The VR program is oriented around talk therapy and peer support, two of psychiatry’s traditional frontline defenses against PTSD. Developed by an international team of psychologists in partnership with the VR platform 8agora, each participant—including a therapist, who guides each session—appears as a customizable avatar. In a pilot session which was recorded and posted to YouTube, Balashova and two other Ukrainian refugees currently living in Bucharest discussed some of the more mundane challenges they’ve encountered since relocating to a new country. Another woman lamented the difficulties of adapting to the transit system in Bucharest. The subject matter of the conversation was easygoing by design. “People with PTSD sometimes don't react well when other people mention a traumatic event that they themselves went through,” says Dr. Cezar Giosan, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Bucharest, who helped design the virtual peer support group.