Keith Dmochowski: Berks psychologist heading to Ukraine border to help refugees

May 14—Dr. Timothy Ring has never been able to ignore human suffering.

For decades, Ring — a Wyomissing-based psychologist — has traveled the world, confronting the emotional aftershock of the darkest disasters: He's offered crisis counseling to victims at ground zero in New York, and victims of Hurricane Katrina, the Indian Ocean tsunami and more.

"Their neighborhoods, where (victims) have lived their entire lives have been obliterated," Ring said. "When I see such levels of suffering, it's hard not to be a part of that recovery effort."

On Saturday, Ring will set off on his newest mission: providing mental health care to refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine.

For up to two weeks, Ring will be stationed near the Ukrainian border in Poland.

He will work alongside a team of medical workers and fellow psychologists with aid organization International Medical Relief to help refugees process the trauma of fleeing their homes.

"Can you imagine just packing up whatever you can carry, going to another country where you may or may not speak the language, and not knowing where you're going to be, the next day, the next week, the next month?" Ring said.

Waves of anxiety and feelings of unimaginable loss often surface without warning, once survivors reach a safe place, Ring said.

"Bombs and bullets can destroy a country, but when it starts to destroy families, you're talking about the very fabric of a culture and community," Ring said. "That's what I need to do when I go over there, keep them together, give them the skills to put one foot in front of the other."

Ring told a story from his time in Thailand after the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, of a woman who had lost her sister and her beauty salon to a 90-foot wave.

"She got caught in the wave, and on the upward swirl, found herself catapulted out, grabbed a telephone pole, and got out of it with a broken tooth and broken collarbone."

He said the woman was destitute, and severely depressed after searching over a dozen temporary morgues and finding no sign of her sister.

Ring said he had the idea to buy some basic beauty supplies and brought them to her campsite.

"I told her, this camp is missing a beauty salon, and I think you should do what you do best," Ring said. "She just started to cry and hugged me."

When Ring visited the next day, there was a line outside the woman's campsite.

"It was that simple: no complicated therapeutic intervention," Ring said. "Because you often don't have time. You just have to do what's going to improve someone's quality of life in the moment and hope it's sustainable."

Ring said witnessing the immense courage of survivors makes him a better person.

"When I was in Nepal, I was in the earthquake that moved Mount Everest, and got caught in a couple aftershocks," Ring said. "People were amazing there, that they live in those circumstances every day."

Ring said his own capacity for dealing with trauma while managing crisis victims is often supplemented by those he works alongside.

"When they first brought me to the gates of ground zero, I almost threw up," Ring said. "It was the strength of the other psychologists, some of the best in the country, that got me through that experience."

He said preparing for an aid mission involves deep breathing exercises, meditation, positive focus, and going through pictures from prior trips as a reminder of the good that will be accomplished.

Those interested in helping Ukraine victims can visit International Medical Relief's website.