NGO for the Development of Medicine and Psychosocial Support
Strategy 2026–2029
Advancing safe, ethical and evidence-based trauma recovery for war-affected Ukraine.
Who We Are
MedPsy Foundation delivers integrated, trauma-informed psychiatric and psychotherapy services for war-affected Ukrainians. We are based in Kyiv and serve nationwide. Our focus is people living with complex trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, and treatment-resistant depression, for whom specialized outpatient care is severely limited. Our model combines evidence-based trauma psychotherapy, a structured psychiatric pathway for every patient, psychedelic-assisted therapy for carefully screened adults, dedicated veteran group therapy, and referral pathways linking community services to specialized care. Alongside clinical delivery, we conduct clinical research and train mental health professionals, strengthening the evidence base and the workforce for advanced trauma treatment in Ukraine. Care is delivered under clinical supervision, partner governance, and applicable approvals, with psychiatric screening and safety monitoring. Care is delivered under clinical supervision, partner governance, and applicable approvals through a formal partnership with Expio Clinic, a Ukrainian center specializing in psychedelic medicine and psychotherapy, operating since 2018 in Kyiv and Lviv with over 1,000 psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy sessions delivered. This structure is deliberate: clinical governance sits with Expio, while programme governance, donor accountability, and research coordination sit with MedPsy.
Why Now
Ukraine faces Europe's largest mental health crisis since the Second World War, with millions at risk and the majority of those in distress unable to access care. At the same time, Ukraine holds a rare combination of conditions: clinical experience with advanced treatments, established care infrastructure, and operational experience developed through four years of full-scale war, and open channels into the institutions that shape the mental health system. No other country in Europe combines the need and the opportunity this way. MedPsy exists to act on both.
Strategic Goal
To establish an integrated model in which clinical care, research, and policy engagement work as one system, transforming how treatment-resistant, conflict-related trauma is treated: in Ukraine first, and as a reference model for conflict-affected settings globally.
Strategic Pillars
Pillar 1: Specialized clinical delivery. Deliver free, high-quality treatment to the populations most severely affected and least served: veterans, war-exposed civilians, survivors of conflict-related violence, people living with chronic pain and treatment-resistant depression. Care is delivered through a stepped, referral-based outpatient model with rigorous clinical governance, and every programme is designed to scale as funding allows.
Pillar 2: Evidence generation. Every clinical programme doubles as an evidence-generating asset. The research agenda spans the full spectrum: controlled trials to establish efficacy, structured real-world outcome data to demonstrate effectiveness at scale, and pilot studies extending the model into early intervention and prevention. Research protocols are developed with appropriate ethical and governance review; the aim is a published evidence base strong enough to inform clinical practice and policy internationally, produced from one of the most demanding operating environments in the world.
Pillar 3: Systems integration. Move from delivering services alongside the state to being integrated with it: partnerships within the public health and veterans' systems, referral pathways that connect state and community services to specialized care, and programme models designed for adoption within state institutions.
Pillar 4: Organizational strength. A diversified funding base in which each funder supports a distinct piece of one coherent system; a trained and supervised clinical workforce; robust governance, safeguarding, and financial systems; and communications that build credibility with funders, reduce stigma among the public, and position MedPsy visibly in its sector.
Pillar 5: Policy influence and dialogue. Sustained engagement with the national and European policy processes that will determine the future regulatory environment for advanced trauma treatments. MedPsy works through research networks, professional associations, and policy partners, contributes evidence to regulatory and reimbursement discussions, and convenes dialogue between clinicians, researchers, and decision-makers. The long-term objective is a changed framework in which effective treatments are appropriately accessible, publicly supported, and reimbursable.
How the Pillars Work Together
The logic of the strategy is a flywheel. Clinical delivery generates outcomes data; outcomes data becomes published evidence; evidence earns institutional trust and a seat in policy dialogue; trust and influence unlock funding and system access; funding and access expand clinical delivery. No pillar stands alone, and every investment in one strengthens the others.
Priorities by Phase
Near term (12 months): secure and launch. Convert the current funding pipeline, launch the flagship research and delivery programmes, formalize key government and institutional partnerships, and protect the regulatory and clinical foundations everything rests on. Funding scenarios are planned in advance: if the pipeline converts only partially, clinical delivery and the regulatory base are protected first, and remaining programmes are re-sequenced rather than abandoned.
Mid term (2027–2028): deliver and publish. Full programme delivery at scale, completion of the first research cycle, flagship publications, and the design of the next-generation research programme with international partners.
Long term (2029 and beyond): integrate and lead. Evidence informing national and European policy, programme models adopted within state systems, and MedPsy established as the reference implementer for advanced trauma care in conflict-affected settings.
What Success Looks Like
Thousands reached through specialized care that did not previously exist for them. A published evidence base that changes what the field considers possible in active conflict settings. A working presence inside the systems that serve veterans. A sustainable, diversified organization. And, on the ten-year horizon, a policy environment in Ukraine and in Europe reshaped by evidence MedPsy generated. Each pillar carries quantified targets for patients treated, studies completed, professionals trained, and funding secured, held in the annual operational plan and reviewed by the Board.
MedPsy Foundation is not only a service provider. It is a platform for advanced, ethical and evidence-based trauma recovery in wartime and post-war Ukraine.
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