The team of Cultural Platform NGO brings together the voices of three generations in their podcast “KONTENTA: children and youth explore the world of mental health with the First Lady Olena Zelenska”. The participants met at the Create! exhibition hall for a sincere conversation about the role of creativity in sustaining their mental state and their methods of coping with anxiety and fear.
The podcast was held in the format of a game: every participant took turns picking question cards and answering the questions, and the others joined in and shared their thoughts on the matter. We selected the questions thanks to our community of creative and conscious young people; it was important for us to highlight the real problems of modern-day children and adolescents.
By the way, 7-year-old Polina, the podcast host, is a frequent participant in our Spilno Camp events. She is a self-proclaimed hyena supporter and has even brought along her favorite Hyena toy to the podcast filming (since she has not domesticated a real one yet). In the conversation, the girl shares how important creativity is for her: it helps her cope with fears, calm down during air raids in the school shelter, and relax before going to sleep (by the way, Polina gets ready for bed every night by listening to a song by Taras Kompanichenko called De Libertate, the lyrics being Hryhorii Skovoroda’s poem).
Polina’s co-host Masha Kravets is 21 years old. In the podcast, she represents the voice of young people who use art as a form of self-expression. Morning workouts and abstract doodling help her concentrate and get a break from thinking about problems, but dancing and music bring a true sense of freedom. These activities allow Masha to express her emotions and return to a state of balance under any circumstances.
Olena Zelenska, the guest on the podcast, talks about resilience during these trying times and emphasizes that we all must try to learn more about our own needs to stay mentally healthy. The First Lady also shares how she supports her close ones when they are struggling, whether meditation helps her, and talks about her plan to get back to piano lessons — she believes that live interaction with an instrument can calm people down and ground them during the most difficult moments.
We believe that when children, adolescents, and adults have an opportunity to get together and talk on par with each other, their worldview becomes more versatile and mutually enriching. Exchanging life experiences, supporting each other, and hearing a fresh point of view on the matter are crucial for the creation of our common future!
We want to thank all participants for being sincere and unapologetically unique, thus making the conversation insightful and interesting. Another note of gratitude goes to the production team for bringing this podcast to life. The podcast was recorded in “Kontenta” audiovisual studio that allows youth to independently work with sound, from recording to the final release. Cultural Platform Zakarpattya NGO with the support of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Ukraine plans to install 20 Kontenta studios in various youth centers across Ukraine.
This podcast was produced by Cultural Platform Zakarpattya NGO with the support of UNICEF in Ukraine together with the All-Ukrainian mental health program “How are you?” initiated by Olena Zelenska
Podcast hosts: Masha Kravets and Polina Medvid
You can watch the full version of the podcast on the “How are you?” YouTube channel
Photo Anton Kulakovskiy
Video Cultural Platform Zakarpattya NGO
Anastasiya Mishustina
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