Joint training for joint assistance
Within “Ukraine Joint Response 3” Consortium (Dorcas Ukraine, Save the Children, Caritas Ukraine and Terre des hommes) on September 5-8 the training on the subject: “Psychological First Aid (PFA), Acute Stress and PTSD, Grief, Depression, Psychosis, Harmful Use of Alcohol and Drugs” took place in Svyatohorsk Donetsk region. Psychologists and community workers of four big INGOs which operate at the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions participated in such training.
The participants learnt how to:
1. Identify suspected mental disorders in individuals
2. Refer individuals with mental disorders
3. To strengthen psychosocial support skills related to mental health
4. Communicate with individuals with mental disorders survivors
5. Understand how to support families and the community
The training was arranged to strengthen the partners cooperation within consortium and to equip psychologists and community workers in recognizing mental health conditions and psychosocial problems, and to give them the tools to provide care and support within their (limited) possibilities in order to strengthen individuals and communities.
Psychologists and community workers of above-mentioned INGOs while providing humanitarian assistance will be able to identify and respond psychological disorders of people affected by the conflict at the east of Ukraine.
One of the Save the Children representatives Nadezhda Prasova provided the following feedback: “We experienced the events of 2014 and we remember about them for the last 3 years. As it is very difficult to lose the stability, your own comfortable house, good job that you really enjoyed but it was more difficult to lose my husband. At that moment it seemed there was not life any more. I shared all of this in one breath and the group of participants together with the trainers based on their professional experience explained the ways of positive solution of such hardships. My example, as I found out after the training, helped one lady who stayed alone with 2 kids to cope with the similar situation and brought her a sense of life again. Big thanks to the trainers for the comprehensive training, for putting “things in order”. It was very useful. They opened the eyes at the things that I thought were unchanged. I understood that fear is not forever and we can fight with it. It was a great training for understanding why people act one way or another in daily life, what to do in such situations with oneself and the others. This training helped me to increase my professional skills for further work with kids and partner organizations. Also I would like to express words of gratitude to the group of participants who not only shared their experience but also shared valuable things without identification of the person if it was not their story. And of course I want to say thank you for the training organizers for given opportunity to be in such wonderful place as Svyatohorsk in Donetsk region. The atmosphere touches you from the very first moment. Such atmosphere inspires you to rich more in your life.”
Dorcas expresses big thanks to Jannetta Bos and Yvonne Menzel from War Trauma Foundation (the Netherlands) who facilitated the training.
Together we can make a difference!
12 September 2017