ADAPT. A Space for Recovery: How Co-Creation Helps Veterans Adapt

The ADAPT project aims to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the recovery process for veterans in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. The project enabled the Restart team to delve into veteran rehabilitation, explore its various forms from our own expertise, and propose evidence-based spatial recommendations.

The project resulted in spatial strategies for veterans’ recovery system development in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, specifically recommendations for project initiatives and policies in the region’s hromadas and the city of Ivano-Frankivsk.

Our research methodology draws directly on the agency’s experience in spatial planning and the development of strategic documents at the hromada level. We identified the key components of the recovery system, described their regulatory framework, and analysed the infrastructure and policies of local councils on maps. As part of the project, 400 veterans were surveyed, along with representatives from almost half of the region’s hromadas.

The findings are largely as expected — more densely populated urban hromadas have significantly more funding and a wider range of resources to implement veteran policies. In contrast, small hromadas have considerably fewer opportunities. It would be misleading to draw a simple conclusion — hromadas need more facilities, funding and guidance on how to use them.

However, one of the study’s findings required further analysis and reflection. As the surveys showed, the majority of veterans are generally not interested in psychological support and do not consider it necessary. Only 25% of veterans and servicemembers had received such support, and of those who had not, 82% stated that they had no need for it. Consequently, in the survey results, this form of support showed by far the lowest demand among respondents.

This result contradicted all the analytical materials and research we had drawn upon in our work. For us, this fact remained a mystery — the only explanation was the societal stigma surrounding psychological support. Such a simple explanation satisfies the research objectives, but does not offer any solutions. Identifying a solution requires a more complex rationale and a deeper exploration, for which the team lacked relevant experience in the field of psychological rehabilitation and overcoming the effects of war trauma.

Whilst working on the ADAPT project, we had the opportunity to delve deeper into the subject through discussions with practising specialists and by researching a model for engaging veterans in psychological support within a veterans’ community. The findings deserve particular attention.

Veterans who had been actively involved in the life of the veterans’ community for a long time — taking part in activities and events — were more likely to acknowledge their personal psychological challenges and seek help from a specialist. Psychological support begins with reaching out. This step, however, is only possible if there is trust — something made difficult by deep-rooted stigma. Belonging to a community provides a foundation for that trust.

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The challenge lies in creating not just spaces, but communities. Simply having a venue, a social worker and supplies support does not guarantee veterans reaching out: it is likely to prove an ineffective solution that does not encourage people to ask for support. These spaces must be filled with activities, events and small interest-based communities, and must be integrated into veterans’ lives — adapting to their work schedules, interests, etc. This requires the active involvement of the target audience — veterans — in the space’s design and the principles governing its operation³.

The principles of such spaces include:

• Accessibility — the aim of the space is  to ensure its services are accessible to the target audience, with physical accessibility and opening hours at weekends and after working hours;
• Variety — the space should have a packed programme of events and offer a range of functions that attract more people, including those from other groups, to prevent any segregation within the veterans’ community;
• Diversity — events and functions should not only take place frequently, but also offer a variety of leisure opportunities for different groups of veterans based on their interests;
• Community — the space should be a place that enables people to take responsibility for its running — to support its activities, get involved in its development and contribute to its day-to-day operations.

Building a community also takes time. Even a project funded by grants or donor funds must be financially sustainable once external funding programmes have ended. Local authorities, as well as hromadas, groups and the business sector as a whole, must play their part in supporting such a space — financially, through information, and by providing logistical support.

In summary, these spaces should be more than just buildings offering opportunities for veterans. The creation of an effective space must be based on the principles of community-oriented design that encourage participation. The implementation of such a project must be a joint effort by representatives of various groups — and, first and foremost, the veteran community. For local hromadas, this will undoubtedly be a new experience — but they must be prepared for it in order to genuinely adapt to the needs of veterans.

³ Experience shows that this can be a very complex process, but it is extremely important.