Update from the President

 Dear Friends,

As we reflect on the first half of this year, we are deeply grateful for what we have been able to accomplish together. These past six months have been an exceptionally productive time of service, growth, and meaningful impact.

With your generous support, we have continued our work in Ukraine amid the ongoing war, providing psychological and emotional support to those directly affected by it: Ukrainian soldiers, their wives, and children living with the uncertainty, separation, grief, and trauma of war. Our focus remains on strengthening those who are actively fighting and providing early psychological support before challenges deepen and become more difficult to heal.

Larry and I also had the privilege of visiting the frontlines and spending time with our friends there. Seeing firsthand the extraordinary courage, resilience, and even humor they demonstrate every day was both humbling and inspiring.

This year has also marked an important step forward in our services. We have begun offering small residential programs, including a special program for wives who have lost their husbands in the war and children who have lost their fathers. Giving families a place to step away from the pressures of daily life, receive professional support, connect with others who understand their experiences, and begin the process of healing has reinforced our commitment to expanding residential care.

We are now working toward a dedicated facility that will allow us to significantly expand these services for soldiers, their wives, and children. We look forward to sharing more exciting news about this project with you this fall.

As we take this important next step, we are profoundly grateful to you for making this progress possible. Thank you for standing with us and helping us continue to bring healing, hope, and restoration to those who defend Ukraine and to the families who stand beside them.

 IIT has been selected by the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) to join 13,000 organizations from around the world and make a Commitment to Action at the CGI 2026 Annual Meeting. IIT's Commitment to Action focuses on expanding residential trauma care for Ukrainian service members and their families.

The need for psychological support in Ukraine continues to grow as the war places extraordinary pressure on military personnel, veterans, spouses, and children. For IIT, participation in CGI is an important opportunity to bring greater international attention to this need and to the importance of providing effective, evidence-based trauma care for those affected by war.

A CGI Commitment to Action is more than a statement of intent. It represents a commitment to turn an ambitious idea into measurable action. Through the CGI community, IIT will have the opportunity to engage with leaders, organizations, and innovators from around the world and build relationships that can help strengthen and sustain its work in Ukraine.

IIT looks forward to sharing more about its Commitment to Action at the CGI 2026 Annual Meeting. This milestone represents an important step in IIT's continuing work to bring international expertise and resources together to support Ukraine's military personnel and families, strengthen communities, and build lasting capacity for trauma care.

 IIT has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with VDL Netherlands B.V., a global leader in modular building solutions, to build IIT's residential traumatherapy center near Kyiv and support Ukraine's recovery. The Memorandum was signed in the presence of ministers from Ukraine and the Netherlands, reflecting the shared commitment of both countries to Ukraine's reconstruction and resilience. 

The partnership is centered on helping the people of Ukraine heal. It supports active-duty military personnel, veterans, their spouses, and children affected by the war through an integrated approach that combines evidence-based traumatherapy, meaningful employment, and community rebuilding. By recognizing that recovery depends on both clinical care and renewed purpose, the initiative seeks to strengthen individuals, families, and communities. 

 As part of this vision, VDL will provide its advanced technology while supporting the development of modular construction capacity in Ukraine. The project will create meaningful employment opportunities for Ukrainians as they rebuild their country. VDL's modular building systems are ideally suited to Ukraine's current realities. Buildings can be rapidly constructed, relocated, repaired if damaged, and returned to operation with minimal interruption, helping to run essential services without interruption and supporting long-term recovery. 

For IIT, this partnership reflects a holistic vision of healing that recognizes mental health, economic opportunity, and resilient communities as inseparable elements of recovery. Together, IIT and VDL are creating a model that restores dignity, strengthens resilience, and offers much-needed support to Ukraine's military, veterans, spouses, and children as they rebuild their country.

In June 2026, the International Institute of Traumatherapy and the Hope & Humanity Foundation (https://nadiia.info/en) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation, establishing a long-term partnership focused on advancing physical, and psychological rehabilitation  trauma therapy, mental health support, education, and humanitarian initiatives.

This partnership brings together professional expertise, resources, and international collaboration to strengthen a comprehensive system of rehabilitation and support for veterans, active-duty military personnel, women, children, internally displaced persons, and all those affected by war.

Together, we are committed to building a sustainable support system that promotes both physical and psychological recovery, strengthens community resilience, and creates new opportunities for Ukraine’s long-term recovery.

Together, we are turning partnership into lasting impact.

In April 2026, after attending a powerful screening in Kyiv, Olya met filmmaker Tetyana Staneva, whose award-winning documentary SHE follows the lives of the wives of Ukrainian soldiers over four years of war. Through stories of love, uncertainty, resilience, loss, and hope, the film reveals the human cost of war beyond the battlefield.

Deeply moved by IIT's vision of building a Traumatherapy Center in Ukraine, Tetyana embraced the mission, and what began as a conversation quickly grew into a meaningful partnership.

Two months later, Tetyana traveled to the United States for a private screening of SHE at Regent University. Faculty, students, donors, and long-time partners of IIT attended in person, while dozens more joined through a private online screening.

Following the film, Tetyana participated in a panel discussion moderated by George Thomas of CBN, joined by Dr. Olya Zaporozhets, Dr. Anna Ord, and Dr. Mary Manjikian. Together, they discussed the psychological impact of war, the challenges facing Ukrainian mental health professionals, and the urgent need for long-term trauma care. The evening provided an opportunity to share the vision for a Traumatherapy Center in Ukraine, dedicated to serving military personnel, veterans, their families, and civilians affected by war.

As part of her visit, Tetyana was invited to CBN for an interview about SHE, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and the importance of trauma healing.

 ▶ Watch the CBN interview with filmmaker Tetyana Staneva

The success of the screening has inspired plans for a U.S. benefit film tour to raise awareness and support for the Traumatherapy Center, bringing the stories of SHE to audiences across the country.

In February 2026, after delivering the heated vests funded by your generous donations, Larry and Olya traveled across Ukraine so Larry could experience the country firsthand. Here are Larry’s reflections:

My goal for this trip was simple: to meet our team in Ukraine and understand daily life during the war.

I visited Kyiv, attended New Life Church (the same name as my church back home), sat with support groups, and spent time with soldiers on the front lines—the highlight of my trip. The friendships we formed so quickly made it incredibly hard to leave.

I witnessed the realities of war: destroyed buildings, damaged infrastructure, power outages, bitter cold, air raid sirens, and incoming rockets. Every morning at 9:00, the country pauses for a moment of silence and prayer for those who have fallen and those still fighting.

The cemeteries were the most heartbreaking. Each grave bears a photo and a large flag. Seeing thousands of flags waving as families brushed snow from the graves of loved ones is something I will never forget.

I did not meet a single person who had not lost someone. Yet despite unimaginable loss, the Ukrainian spirit remains strong. People are weary of war but determined to remain free.

Nearly everyone carries deep trauma. The need for healing is immense, and organizations like the Ukraine Institute of Traumatherapy will be essential in helping people rebuild their lives.

I left Ukraine deeply moved by the courage, faith, and resilience of its people.

Glory to God. Victory to Ukraine.

— Larry Clayton, Warrior for Christ

In June of 2026, we launched our new program for wives and children of fallen Ukrainian defenders at a psychological support camp in the village of Sokolytsi, Ukraine.

The program was created to promote healing and rest. The camp team took on as many responsibilities as possible to create a warm, supportive, and a safe space, so that these women could "breathe" for a few days—to be not only strong, but simply themselves.

Our trauma therapists led group sessions focused on emotional stabilization, healing, and helping families navigate profound loss. They help special session with children, and through art, movement, play, and emotional support, helped them regain a sense of safety—one step at a time. Healing doesn’t happen overnight. But every child deserves the opportunity to begin.

This is the work we are committed to every day—not only through our future rehabilitation center, but also by bringing trauma-informed psychological support directly to those who need it most. Every session reminds us that healing begins with human connection, compassion, and access to professional care.