Shiftwave at Almedalen Week: Shining a Spotlight on Resilience and Recovery in Ukraine

Earlier this month, our CEO and co-founder, Mike North, PhD visited Sweden to spend a week at Almedalsveckan (Almedalen Week), a democratic forum open to all and a unique blend of political summit and openness focused on society’s development. 

Shiftwave was there to showcase the breadth and depth of our humanitarian work in Ukraine in a variety of meaningful and engaging ways.

In the realm of visual storytelling, ‘Through Their Eyes’ is a powerful display art project delivered by Repower, a Ukrainian charitable foundation focused on psychological recovery for frontline medics. The exhibition featured portraits of medics taken before and after participating in Repower’s program, which Shiftwave has been supporting on the ground.

These images are a window into trauma, resilience, and the human cost of war. It is a privilege for Shiftwave to support Repower and witness the impact firsthand.

As part of our alliance, we set up two Shiftwave systems in the Recovery Zone next to the exhibit, enabling visitors to experience our technology with some hugely positive results.

On Wednesday 2nd July, North spoke on a panel with Repower’s Co-Founder, Kate Serdiuk, an active Ukrainian combat medic, and Elin Jönsson, a  journalist from SVT, titled ‘Mental Health as National Security’, which explored how psychological well-being influences social cohesion, defense capacity, and post-war recovery.

From experience, our work using Shiftwave shows that somatic factors - traumatic injury, stress, chronic pain - profoundly shape mental health.

North also discussed Ukrainian solidarity and co-regulation as critical to sustaining defense. In contrast, in places like Sweden and the US, extreme independence can erode community, reducing co-regulation and increasing fragility. One ethos of Shiftwave is that we can be stronger and more resilient together.

Overall, Almedalen was an ideal setting to introduce our work in Ukraine, where our technology has been deployed since the invasion to support medics, children, and civilians in collaboration with Repower and other partners.

Across hospitals, trauma centers, and aid zones, Shiftwave helps bodies under siege find calm, clarity, and recovery through non-invasive nervous system regulation.

We’ll be sharing more of our work relating to Ukraine in due course - stay tuned for further updates!