Background:
In 2022 in the midst of an ongoing war, millions of citizens in Ukraine, including children and adults, were experiencing severe trauma and psychological distress due to the destruction and the constant threat of bombings. In the war situation it is especially important to train educators in resilience to serve as direct sources of support for children. At the same time, many of the caregivers are in an intense and highly sensitive activity while working with the victims. Hence, there’s a need to focus on promoting self-care among caregivers to deal with secondary traumatization. In cooperation with local municipalities and educational departments, and based on Israel’s successful experience, in August 2022 NATAN organized a pilot project of psychosocial training to equip professionals involved in supporting the affected population, with relevant practices and skills to improve resilience and manage stressful situations. During 2023 highly professional experts with experience in emergency situations continue to conduct resilience training for education workers coming from different areas of Ukraine (directors of educational institutions, school social workers, educators, educational psychologists, community workers).
Train the Trainer: In 2024 it was decided to upgrade the project and build ongoing training sessions for Ukrainian psychologists interested in improving their skills and guiding caregivers in the field of resilience. The main goal of the project is creating teams of local trainers who can spread knowledge and expand activity mainly in the Eastern Ukraine region to increase the impact of the psychosocial training project. These permanent teams will conduct training in educational institutions, social welfare organizations and resilience centers.
Impact:
NATAN has trained Ukrainian caregivers – education workers involved in supporting the affected population (displaced persons and local population). Overtime, the geographical coverage of the participants increased and in addition to the western region (Dolina, Yavoriv, Lviv), people from eastern Ukraine also joined the project (Dnipro, Donetsk, Kharkiv).
As a result, hundreds of Ukrainian professionals were equipped with the necessary tools to improve resilience and deal with trauma on both a personal and community level. The program focused on practicing emotional regulation skills for practical application in everyday life alongside acquiring tools to deal with professional burnout and secondary trauma. Besides the “Train the trainers” component will later form the basis for establishing a resilience center in Kharkiv so that thousands of residents can receive a holistic response in crisis and emergency situations.
Training sessions take place in several locations in Ukraine as well as at a dedicated training center in Poland, near the Ukrainian border. Trainers are NATAN volunteers, experts in the psychological-educational field (educational psychologists and social workers) who have experience in guiding educational teams and working in emergency situations. Most of them hold senior positions in an educational psychological service in Israel. Some of them have taken part in multiple delegations to Ukraine or Poland.
Impact in numbers:
- 44 NATAN volunteers served as workshop instructors
- 10 interpreters provided translation services in training sessions
- As of now 484 professionals have taken part in NATAN’s training.
