In Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs was held a training course “First psychological aid – training for trainers” for students majoring in Psychology. The event was held with the support of the European Union Advisory Mission in Ukraine (EUAM) within the framework of the reform of the civil security sector.

The training was conducted by Svitlana Kharchenko, Professor of the Department of Psychology, Sociology and Pedagogy of the ERI №3, who completed a certified EU course under the guidance of mental health specialists from the Portuguese Gendarmerie.

The training programme included the following topics:

l  the emergence and development of critical situations;

l  the impact of stress and effective methods of overcoming it;

l  the characteristics of conflicts and deviant, especially suicidal behaviour.

Special attention was paid to practical training of protocol for reporting traumatic information and the ICOVER protocol.

A special group of EUAM instructors in Ukraine joined the training for the monitoring and mentoring support:

l  expert José Quintela Cardoso;

l  trainer Ana Isabel Carneiro Gonzalez;

l  Vasyl Korniienko, expert in education and training.

During the training, the cadets mastered the basic principles and techniques of providing first psychological aid necessary for working in crisis situations. After evaluating the results of the final assignments, they will be passed to expert José Quintela Cardoso for further international certification.

On 21 October, the EU Advisory Mission will hold a hybrid round table where trainers will be able to share their experiences of implementing first psychological aid programmes. EUAM experts will also provide feedback and recommendations based on the results of the training.