Building resilience: MHPSS seminars for the volunteer community

Project funding: The project is implemented in partnership and with financial assistance from the international organization World Vision.

The purpose of the project is to provide advanced training to volunteers, humanitarian workers, and social workers in the fields of psychosocial support and first aid.

Description of the situation: During the war, there is a growing need for qualified psychosocial support of the population. Volunteers and social workers often become the first line of assistance for injured people, so it is important to provide them with the necessary knowledge and skills.

According to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, about 15 million Ukrainians need psychological support because of the war. It is almost a third of the population of the country. Particularly vulnerable are internally displaced persons, which now account for more than 6 million.

Training will allow volunteers to:

• Communicate properly with people with trauma
• Recognize signs of serious psychological issues
• Provide basic emotional support
• Know when to refer a person to a professional psychologist

In addition, it is important to teach volunteers to take care of their health. This will help prevent emotional burnout and ensure the stable performance of volunteer organizations.

Implementation and coverage:

• More than 80 participants were trained and gained new knowledge and skills in “Psychological first aid” and “First pre-medical aid”
• Participants learned to recognize the signs of psychological trauma and provide first psychological assistance

The importance of the project: Every trained volunteer equals potentially saved lives and the mental health of many people. We strongly believe that thanks to these trainings our team and volunteers will be able to help those who suffered from the war. As well as they will help people find the most effective way to healing and recovery.

Plans for the future: We will continue to conduct seminars to cover as many volunteers and social workers as possible. Our goal is to create a network of qualified assistants across the country.

We are sincerely grateful to World Vision for the financial support of this vital project. Together, we make our community stronger and more resilient to the challenges of war.