Nataliia Kryvich: "For me, the main mission is to listen and understand a person"

A new interview on the pages of BOMOND VIP fashion magazine with ambassador Nataliia Kryvich about the depth of the psychologist's profession, the mission to be there and be able to truly hear a person.

In this conversation, we talked about the role of the psychologist in today's world, where emotional exhaustion, fears and uncertainty have become part of everyday reality, about trust as the basis of therapy and about why sometimes the most important thing is just to be heard. The topic of the combination of different approaches in psychology, the formation of one's own style of work and the importance of constant development of a specialist was revealed.

Special attention was paid to working with children and the role of parents in this process, how the inner state of an adult affects the child and why responsibility for one's own emotional state becomes the key to harmony in the family. They also talked about the transformations that Ukrainian families are experiencing today: about rethinking values, changing priorities, about living without illusions, but with a new sense of the value of time and life itself.

A new publication about support, awareness, responsibility for yourself and how, even going through difficult periods, to remain human.

Ms. Nataliia, you work in psychology so deeply and delicately that each of your meetings becomes a space of security for a person. What is the main mission of a psychologist for you personally in the modern world, where children and adults experience excessive stress, fears and uncertainty?

I try to help a person who is bad to find his solution, sometimes it can lead to a variety of emotions, because we do not know how to accept the truth. So for me, the main mission is to listen and understand a person, because unfortunately, despite the modern world and the availability of a lot of information on social networks, a person feels bad and feels lonely! For people who need support, it is important to know that their problems are not only theirs, that everything that happens to us is natural processes, yes, they can be very painful, but a person can ask for help, speak, not to be alone in his thoughts, not to be afraid of condemnation, to share his fears and emotions and be sure that accompanied by specialists, there is always a chance, so to speak, for understanding. We all need to reset our views, feelings, desires, reboot them to new ones.

Your professional path combines Ukrainian and European education: CISPP, WIAP in Germany, KNUVS. How did these different schools shape your particular style of work? What methods of positive psychotherapy do you consider the most effective for children and their families?

My particular style of work is not about having my education. Yes, education is very important, and when you start your professional development, you try to follow the "methodology", but then you realize that it is too little. Before going into psychology, I think you need to find out some things in yourself. If you don't love people, treat them with respect, and don't try to feel someone else's pain, you won't be able to understand and help. A person must feel that he can trust you!

Yes, of course, education provides me with additional tools for each individual case. I am always learning, constantly working on myself, because this is life, it has a constant process. Influence, habits, new understandings in the field of life in which everything around changes, and therefore our knowledge must have its value.

You work with children every day, helping them find inner support and faith in themselves. What changes do you most often observe in children during therapy? And what, in your opinion, needs the attention of parents most today?

Currently, during the circumstances in the country, I work primarily with my parents. I know for myself, from my motherly experience, if an adult does not want to take responsibility for his life, does not need attention primarily to himself, his moral state, we will not be able to help the child (example with the plane, remember that first of all an adult should put on a mask, not a child, if it did not look humane, but it is an adult who is able to help others after he helps himself). No matter how hard you try to work with a child while he is under the control of parents who do not consider it necessary to work on themselves and their fears, it all looks conditionally speaking, like removing symptoms, not working with a causal relationship. The child always feels what is being done in the inner world of an adult and broadcasts it in a subconscious state. That is, if an adult reacts optimistically to difficulties - the child automatically broadcasts it. If parents may be aggressive or ignore their feelings, this can also lead to negative consequences in the child's behavior. At the moment, this is the most blatant question. Now everyone is emotionally exhausted, so I ask parents first of all to pay attention to themselves, work with their thoughts, do something with their mood, because the future of our children depends on it. Children who need help and see adults who cannot put themselves in order become victims of various circumstances. Currently, I have a 6-year-old child as an example, and she is very afraid of the mood of adults, because this mood of parents often changes and the child is already starting to get nervous, no matter what. I also have an example of a guy, a teenager who is in emotional trauma, in addition to the war, moving and horror around, and an additional one, which the mother caused with her fears and experiences (of course, the mother broadcasts her love in this way, but you need to understand where the line between care and obsessive thoughts is), which brought the child to the question of death and misunderstanding of how to live in general, because she does not see the point.

Your approach goes beyond classical psychology and touches on the spiritual stability, compassion and inner light of the person. How do you support yourself working with such deep processes? What inspires you to continue this mission, even despite the difficult realities of our time?

Yes, I am not a classic psychologist, I believe that the way you think, how you live and feel, the people around you, what values you adhere to - all this can be your calling card. Does it all depend on what drives you in the first place? Popularity, recognition, material part, or spiritual state.

Therefore, my view of life and circumstances is slightly different from the "classical method", but I am still a specialist in my specialty, so the protocol of conduct and professional ethics for me definitely exists!

How do I support myself?

I believe that our life is much more complicated and at the same time more interesting than just studying, eating, working and so on. We seem to live and constantly pass endurance tests, and after completing it, we either receive bonuses or essentially work on a result that either satisfies us or does not.

Yes, I have my own personal psychologist, my teacher, who helps me track my emotions and work on myself. But I am also inspired by spiritual knowledge! I can't say about myself that I'm a very religious person, no, because in this world it's almost impossible, but I really like to read the Bible, the books of the Proverbs of Solomon, in which instructions are given for every day of life. This is wisdom and if you find this wisdom for yourself, why not serve these people?

First, I experience all this on myself and my life in my family, with my children, friends, relatives, and I can safely say that it really works!

How does this happen, you ask, spiritual values and psychological methods?

Imagine that you want to build a house. So, spiritual values are our foundation, and psychological knowledge is what exactly you want to make this house ... several floors high, or how to decorate it and use it in your life, with whom to live in this house or build it not for the family, but for sale.

It all depends on whether you will be comfortable working with such a specialist or not?

It's important for me not to hurt!

All this inspires me to help people!

2025 was a year of great transformation for many Ukrainian families. What conclusions did you draw from your practice this year? And what do you see as the main requests and directions for the development of psychological support in 2026, both for children and adults?

Transformation has become painful and difficult for many families!

Everything that should have happened before the war is happening at great speed right now! As for the relationship that was so exhausted before the war, it broke down during. Where there were hesitations about the preservation of the family, in time - they finally ended. The trial of war gave us the opportunity to achieve other goals and rethink the values of life.

The masks are torn off and we have a lot of things that are unexpected and very sad.

People took off their rose-colored glasses and even sadly watched cynicism become an advantage in life.

People realized that life is the most important thing they have!

If everything was different before, as if I would wait, I would probably do something else another time, then today, people seem to have woken up! They are greedy for life, for time, they have become more selfish, even if it concerns some ethical moments. The Horrors that Ukrainians are experiencing seem to have changed their DNA. I'm not saying it's bad, but time will tell us what we'll get in the future.

For me, as always, the main thing is to remain human and show love and support to each other! Stop devaluing your life, stop destroying yourself, start seeing small joys in every moment of life.

Remember that each of us has the right to our own opinion, so conflict situations should not be resolved by force or an aggressive position. If each of us begins to change something in ourselves - this is not a problem in a healthy society, because the ability to control our attitude and perceive other people around us is something with which we can interact and defeat evil!

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