Psychosocial assistance in emergencies: psychologists from different cities of Ukraine studied on a three-day training in Kyiv

From 16 to 18 of October, the second module of the second training course on the basics of providing psychosocial assistance in emergencies and crises was implemented in Kyiv for practicing psychologists that work with people in emergencies.

The psychologists Olena Sudakova and Olesia Druzhyna worked with participants who came from different cities of Ukraine.

The event relevance was enhanced by the fact that the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine continues for the seventh year already, and thus the need to train experts to work with psychological trauma is growing. The training was attended by 25 practicing psychologists - employees of medical and social institutions who are interested in acquiring knowledge on the training subject.

The trainers noted: "While considering the methods of providing psychosocial first aid, one person with her own history of displacement during the armed conflict actively influenced the situation based on her own experience, which improved the dynamics of the exercise and increased participants' motivation. According to the results of the exercise, the majority of participants noted that professional experience alone is not enough to provide effective assistance to victims, you also need to have the PFA algorithm".

According to the trainers, the majority of participants spoke of the whole training as an important and relevant event, which is a great support in their work and especially in volunteer activities.

The training-course was implemented within the "Crisis prevention and Peace building in Ukraine – Time to Act!" project, supported with German Federal Foreign Office’s funds by IFA (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen), Funding programme zivik.