Working with war-inducted trauma

The loss of family members, active or passive involvement in combat operations, imprisonment and torture – these can all leave deep mental scars. There is the additional factor of volunteers being permanently confronted with stressful situations. The project partners are increasingly reporting instances of secondary traumatisation of volunteer psychologists and burn-out amongst volunteer helpers.

However, to date there have not been enough, sufficiently qualified trauma therapists working in the Ukraine. Another major problem is the widespread stigmatisation felt by those accepting psychological support. The project includes the following measures in the area of trauma-therapy treatment, the aim being to strengthen the resources of the Ukrainian civil society.

Activities:

  • Supervision training for trauma therapists
  • Promotion of two Ukraine-wide information campaigns to combat the stigma of psychotherapy
  • International conference on “Trauma therapy in (post)conflict regions” in Kyiv