Together with the specialists of the “Family Circle” Health and Development Center, we conducted a three-day online training for teachers, social workers and psychologists working in the education system, under the program “Children and War: Teaching Healing Techniques”.
The program was developed by the international organization CHILDREN AND WAR FOUNDATION to provide psychological assistance to children during war and other events with a massive psycho-traumatic impact. In the context of the war in Ukraine, this approach, already tested during the events of 2014, makes it possible to quickly provide competent psychological assistance to a large number of children and families in need.
This month, 37 specialists from 8 regions of Ukraine, covered by the USAID project «Public Health System Recovery and Resilience Activity», mastered the “Children and war: teaching healing techniques” methodology.
The participants of the training – teachers, social workers and psychologists working in the education system – discussed the psycho-traumatic impact of war on the mental health of children, the consequences of psycho-trauma, the symptoms and mechanisms of the development of post-traumatic stress disorder, got acquainted with the model of healing and resilience and mastered safe techniques for processing of traumatic memory.
Upon completion of the training course and fulfillment of all its conditions, participants receive an electronic certificate of successful completion of the program from the Ukrainian Institute of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and the “Family Circle” charitable foundation. Such a certificate gives the right to conduct groups for children and parents according to the mastered methodology, as well as to apply basic techniques of trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy in the format of individual psychological counseling with children and youth.
The trainings “Children and War: Teaching Healing Techniques” take place within the framework of the project «Public Health System Recovery and Resilience Activity» which is funded by the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and is carried out by the Pact organization in partnership with the Swiss Institute of Tropical Medicine and Public of Health (Swiss TPH), Overseas Strategic Consulting (OSC), the European Institute of Public Health Policy (EIPHP) and with the participation of the Schools of Public Health of Temple University, Drexel University and the Philadelphia Health Federation (Temple/Drexel/ HFP), as well as the public union “Coalition for Vaccination”.
