“Knowing how to help”: practising psychologists talk about finding strength for a society traumatised by war

The mass rocket attack that Russia launched on Ukrainian cities the other day, once again affected not only houses and bridges but also our mental health. We return to our usual errands and work affairs, being in a state of permanent stress. Timely psychological support can get out of shock, overcome anxiety and help cope with fear.

Registration for the free course by practising psychologists “Knowing how to help” has begun. This training is for those who in one way or another work with children and families affected by Russian aggression. During the training, Ukrainians will get acquainted with the basic principles of psychology for working with injuries and developing resilience.

“In addition to the reconstruction of Ukraine, Ukrainian society has to cope with another challenge – the traumatic impact caused by Russian aggression. We should be more attentive to our psychological state and be able to support those who were traumatized by the war in one way or another,” says Olena Anoprienko, an expert of the course and a psychologist at the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, she has been working with difficult cases  of civilians in the hospital. After the de-occupation of the Kyiv region, psychologists from her team went to places of crisis to counsel people there.

The boy who lost his mother, a doctor, after the shelling of Kyiv, the torture chamber that was recently discovered in Kharkiv region, the shooting of a column of civilians in Zaporizhzhia and many other horrors of the last nine months are the events after which we must take special care to find words to talk to the traumatized. Therefore, the initiators of the course, in cooperation with leading Ukrainian practising psychologists, who became volunteers and soldiers since the beginning of the war, created 9 lectures on the basic principles of psychological support during wartime.

“Such courses are extremely important because the number of trauma-related disorders is greatly increasing. Now, instead of the office, my consultations are held in the trenches, with military personnel among my patients,” says Dmytro Snisar, course expert, military officer, psychotherapist of cognitive-behavioural therapy, EMDR therapist and supervisor.

Also among the lecturers of the program is a child psychiatrist Nataliya Masyak, psychotherapist of cognitive-behavioural therapy Yevhen Piletskyi, expert on issues of support for victims of domestic violence Alyona Kryvulyak, paramedic and expert in the field of psychological first aid and behavioural health during natural disasters Avi Tenenbaum, and others.

“Teachers and school psychologists are currently under an incredible load – they are the ones who heal children’s hearts and need special attention. The course will definitely come in handy here. These are effective tips from world specialists, adapted to our realities of war so that teachers can: provide high-quality psychological support to their students, react promptly and help bring children out of a state of shock. History shows that we can lose everything, but we cannot lose our own knowledge,” says TV presenter, and curator of the Superheroes School Nataliya Moseychuk, who oversees the course “Knowing how to help”.

Sign up here – https://study.ed-era.com/uk/courses/course/1785

​​After completing the course, participants will receive certificates from the EdEra educational platform.

The course was developed by the psychological support project of the Order of Phoenix on the basis of Small Heart with Art NGO, Mental Balance Space NGO and EdEra online education studio. With the support of charitable organization OneUkraine, the Right to Education social project, in partnership with the Ministry of Health and within the initiative of First Lady Olena Zelenska.