We provide better future for children in Ukraine

Alex Dudko
- Founder | CEO | Board Member | Investor | Non-Profit
“A Little Help Can Make A Big Change.“

Amy Nitza, Ph.D.
- Executive Director | Institute for Disaster Mental Health State University of New York at New Paltz
Dr. Amy Nitza is the Executive Director of the Institute for Disaster Mental Health at SUNY New Paltz, where she also directs the Advanced Certificate in Trauma and Disaster Mental Health and serves as Affiliate Faculty in the Department of Counselor Education. She is a psychologist who specializes in providing mental health training in academic and non-academic settings both nationally and internationally, with an emphasis on disaster mental health and trauma recovery. As a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Botswana, she trained mental health and school counselors and studied the use of group counseling interventions in HIV/AIDS prevention among adolescents. She has collaborated with the University of Notre Dame in Haiti to develop trauma-related interventions for children in domestic servitude, and to provide training for teachers in dealing with traumatized children in the classroom. She is also currently collaborating with UNICEF USA to develop and implement a program of mental health support for children and teachers impacted by Hurricane Maria and the recent earthquakes and pandemic in Puerto Rico. She directs numerous other grant-funded projects including from the New York State Office of Victim Services and New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. Amy has provided training at the national level to federal and non-profit agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Service Employees International Union. She has provided direct service to survivors of numerous disasters including Hurricanes Sally, Dorian, Harvey, and Maria, the Creek Fire in California, the grocery store shooting in Colorado, and the earthquakes in Haiti and Puerto Rico. She is the author and editor of numerous publications, including the recent book Disaster Mental Health Case Studies: Lessons Learned from Counseling in Chaos. Amy is a Past President and Fellow of the Association for Specialists in Group Work, and currently serves as President of the Society for Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy (Division 49) of the American Psychological Association, which also awarded her the 2019 Excellence in Teaching of Group Dynamics award. She holds a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Indiana University, and previously served as Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Professional Studies at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne.

John Thoburn
- Ph.D. ABPP
Dr. Thoburn is Professor Emeritus of clinical psychology with Seattle Pacific University’s APA accredited clinical psychology program. Dr. Thoburn has been a featured speaker, trainer and clinician in the areas of international and couple/family psychology. He is co-author of the book, Family Psychology: Theory, Research and Practice, published by Praeger Press and is co-editor of the book, Clergy Sexual Misconduct: A Systems Approach to Prevention, Intervention and Oversight, published by Gentle Path Press.
Dr. Thoburn is a licensed psychologist and licensed marriage and family therapist in the State of Washington. He is board certified in Couple and Family Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.
Dr. Thoburn is past- president of the American Academy of Couple and Family Psychology, a specialty of the American Board of Professional Psychology and past president of the Society for Family Psychology, Division 43 of the American Psychological Association. He has served on the Board of Trustees for the American Board of Professional Psychology and the American Board of Couple and Family Psychology.
Dr. Thoburn has been the recipient of Seattle Pacific University’s Scholar of the Year award; the American Psychological Association’s International Humanitarian Award; the Society for Family Psychology’s Family Psychologist of the Year award; the Florence W. Kaslow Award for Distinguished Contributions to International Psychology and the American Board of Professional Psychology’s Award for Significant Contributions to the Field of Couple and Family Psychology.

Alana Dimitrashuk
-
Treasurer
I believe each child deserves a better future no matter the circumstances

Krystyna Vysotska
- Project Management for Nonprofits, Socialcare and Healthcare Facilities. Volunteer in the hot spots across Ukraine!

Oleg Fedechkin
- Businessman
“Taking business from idea to realization.“

Mary Holubashenko
- Manager
It is much better for a person to move freely and do not know where to go than to go clearly, but in chains.

Alexander V. Prokhorov
- Distinguished Professor (ret.) at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.
Alexander V. Prokhorov, MD, PhD is a Distinguished Professor (ret.) at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.
Dr. Prokhorov overall experience in preventive cardiology, oncology, behavioral sciences, and other related key disciplines exceeds 40 years. He is an expert in behavioral/communication sciences and youth’s health particularly in substance use prevention and cessation. He has published over 150 research articles in professional journals. Dr. Prokhorov has extensive experience in working with health care providers, school and college educators. Throughout his 30 years of intervention projects, he designed several impactful technology-based programs for youth. In particular, Dr. Prokhorov has served as Principal Investigator on several federally funded multi-million dollar grants for the development and testing of multimedia and text messaging aimed at substance use prevention and cessation among young adults in schools and colleges. I have also as served as the principal architect for the ASPIRE internet and video-based tobacco prevention and cessation program, funded by National Cancer Institute. This program is currently used in 37 states in the US and 7 countries.
Dr. Prokhorov is providing his knowledge and expertise for the Ukrainian Youth Project because he is extremely passionate about restoring and maintaining children’s ability to study at school and college after the devastating mental shocks of war. He strongly believes that programs of this kind are warranted in order to preserve the precious learning skills of the young generation of Ukrainians.

Gloria R. Leon, Ph.D
- Professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota Department of Psychology
Gloria R. Leon, Ph.D, is a professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota Department of Psychology. She received a doctorate in mental health psychology from the University of Maryland. She continues to carry out research and serve on advisory committees in both disaster and space-related areas; the focus is on stress and coping and psychological support in response to disasters and other types of extreme situations. Professor Leon worked extensively with international colleagues on projects assessing the psychological status and health attitudes in a population of children and adults affected by the Chernobyl disaster; the psychological status of Chernobyl power plant workers; and the translation and standardization of russian language versions of various personality measures. Other research she has carried out examined the psychological status of concentration camp survivors and their children; Vietnam veterans; Vietnam nurses. Professor Leon organized and chaired the Psychosocial Task Force of the World Association of Disaster and Emergency Medicine (WADEM), and was a member of the WADEM Board from 2003-2009 and again from 2011-2015. Working with the WADEM task force group, she spearheaded the development of psychosocial support plans for people impacted by disasters, particularly in developing countries and with underserved populations. She was invited by the National School of Public Health (NSPH) in Athens to collaborate on a study of child and adult victims of the Summer 2007 fires in Greece, and organized and participated in psychosocial teaching workshops sponsored by the NSPH over a four year period. She also served as a member of the Canadian CRTI (Chemical, Biological, Radiation, Nuclear, Explosives Research and Technology Initiative) psychosocial advisory committee, and continues to serve on several NASA committees. Professor Leon is an active member of the UkrHelp Foundation, working with other international members of the group to develop programs to provide psychological support to Ukrainian children and mothers in Ukraine and as refugees in nearby countries.
Contact information:
leonx003@umn.edu

Ihor Skrypnichenko
- Adviser to the Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Washington and Oregon. He has a master's degree in political theology.

Nataliia Sytnikova
-
Marketing Phycologist
I believe that together we are stronger