Educating specialists to provide psychosocial support to people suffered from war

The first part of the third training course for practicing psychologists and specialists working with people suffered from war was concluded in Rivne on August 1-4. Over 30 professionals from various regions of Ukraine participated in the training.

The main goal of the first part of the training was to study the key principles of providing psychosocial support in emergency and crisis situations. During the training, the main principles of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), founded in 1992 by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 46/182, were discussed. The IASC aims to strengthen coordination in the field of humanitarian aid and is the primary mechanism for making inter-agency decisions in response to emergencies and natural disasters.

The training began with the study of the concept of well-being, the connection between well-being and health. The trainers, Olena Sudakova and Olesia Druzhyna, explained the concept of "mental health" in war conditions, the health of the individual, family, community, and taught how to minimize the impact of emergencies on the mental state of clients.

Participants analyzed the principles of mobilization, reintegration and reunification of a community. They simulated a community model in exercises: they tried themselves in the roles of village council head, community leader, learned what types of human resources could be mobilized to support the community. They globally structured the likely consequences of critical situations for families and communities, and worked on understanding their own principles of humanitarian work, compared to global ones.

The block on practices for working in emergency situations provoked many divergent opinions among the participants. They generated individual experience and team thinking during group work, noted the value of consolidating efforts and actions in emergencies. The trainers taught how to apply a multidisciplinary approach in the field of mental health and psychosocial support.

Among participants are practicing psychologists, workers of psychological centers, and representatives of civil and humanitarian organizations working in the field of psychological support for people suffered from war. The training helped them gain a deeper understanding of the impact of military actions on a person and his/her psychological state. This could be useful when working with veterans or people who have experienced a military conflict. The training also became a platform for communication and planning further cooperation.

The event was held in the frames of the "Peace Building and Conflict Resolution in Ukraine – Step Forward" project, implemented with the support of the German Federal Foreign Office’s funds by IFA (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen), Funding programme zivik.