The Kyiv Independent is raising $68,000 to fund mental health support for its team

The Kyiv Independent has launched a campaign to fund a full year of mental health support for its team, so the people who live through and report on the Russian war against Ukraine can keep going. The program covers individual therapy sessions and access to an online psychological support platform for all staff.

You can support the fundraiser via the link.

Journalism always takes a mental toll. Reporters regularly deal with traumatic events, footage, and testimonies — it comes with the job. In Ukraine, that trauma hits closer to home: journalists live through the attacks they then report on to the world.

But it is not only the reporters. At the Kyiv Independent, newsletters are often coded from bomb shelters, community letters written from subway stations, and marketing campaigns launched from behind a bathroom wall — generally considered the safest part of an apartment during a strike. Everyone on the team carries the weight of the war.

The story the world likes to hear is that people in Ukraine are resilient and unbreakable. They are not unbreakable. In the first year of the full-scale invasion, 93% of Ukrainians surveyed for one study reported at least one mental health issue at a moderate or severe level. That was year one. Ukraine is now in year five of the full-scale invasion, and the pressure keeps growing.

This past winter was one of the hardest yet. Due to Russia's campaign targeting Ukraine's critical infrastructure, Ukrainians lived with severe energy cuts for months, with temperatures inside apartments failing to rise above 16°C (around 61°F). The Kyiv Independent's team worked by laptop light and turned to its community for support to get through the cold.

Then came May and a new wave of Russia's brutal aerial attacks on Kyiv. Ballistic missiles give almost no warning — they take only minutes to reach the capital — and sirens sometimes sound only after the explosions. When a subway station shudders from a strike while people are sheltering inside, it raises the question of whether anywhere is still safe.

Through all of it, the newsroom keeps working. As Russia's war grows more brutal and its attacks intensify, the world needs to know what is happening more than ever — and the Kyiv Independent has to keep stepping up. As one colleague put it, the workload is so intense that there is no time for burnout. It's half a joke, but it points to a real and growing crisis across Ukraine's media industry: according to one 2025 study, 92% of media workers surveyed showed symptoms of burnout.

To help our team get through this, the Kyiv Independent launched its Mental Health Support program more than a year ago. The program covers individual therapy sessions or access to an online psychological support platform. Some team members rely on it throughout the year; others turn to it in an emergency. Either way, it has already helped a number of team members and helped keep the newsroom running — which is why the outlet is continuing the program as the team grows.

"I believe in this program because I have felt what it does. Just knowing the support is there — already taken care of, whenever you need it — lifts a quiet weight in a job that never really switches off. For anyone on the team who wants it, that reassurance is essential," said Daryna Shevchenko, CEO of the Kyiv Independent.

The funds raised will cover therapy costs for a full year and allow the Kyiv Independent to continue offering this support as the team expands.

Therapy is not a cure-all. But it gives people a way to cope, space to find the mechanisms that work for them, and a place to be heard and understood.

That support exists because of our readers. It has always been the Kyiv Independent’s mission to serve as a bridge between Ukraine and the world. We’re tremendously proud that the Kyiv Independent community of readers from around the globe is consistent in not only fueling our journalism, but also in assisting local Ukrainian news organizations whether through direct newsroom funding or through purchasing life-saving things such as drone-detectors. Our readers have also supported the purchase of an electronic knee prosthesis for George Ivanchenko, a Ukrainian photo-journalist who survived the Russian fpv-done attack, which took the life of French journalist Antoni Lallican.

Consider joining the Kyiv Independent community of members today to find more ways to support our independent journalism and Ukraine.