Kryvyi Rih NGO team trained in psychological first aid

Kryvyi Rih is one of the Ukrainian cities living under the constant threat of missile attacks. Here, even routine daily work demands not only professionalism from specialists but also the ability to act quickly, accurately, and safely in a crisis—for themselves and those around them. That’s why we regularly update the knowledge of our teams working in programs for child protection, support for victims of violence, and trauma response. This time, specialists from mobile brigades and child-friendly spaces joined the training.

“We work in a city where the threat is constant. There’s no time to ‘wait it out’ or ‘wait for a specialist’—our mobile brigades and child-friendly spaces often become the first point of contact for a person in crisis. That’s why continuously updating our knowledge of first psychological aid is a vital professional tool. During this training, we delved deeply into key concepts—from the window of tolerance to signs of stupor, from cognitive distortions to how the brain functions under stress. Techniques for physical stabilization were particularly valuable. When a person is in shock, it’s not always possible to ‘talk’—sometimes, you first need to bring them back to their body, to the moment, to reality. Now we have clear techniques for how to do that,” commented Liubov Vasiuk, the local project coordinator for the NGO “Responsible Citizens.”

Special attention during the training was given to specialists’ self-regulation: how to cope with emotional exhaustion and avoid burnout when working daily with others’ pain. This experience is another step toward ensuring that assistance in communities is not just an act of goodwill but high-quality, professional support, even in the most challenging conditions.

Working in the context of war is a challenge, but it’s also an opportunity for professional growth. We have no room for error when it comes to the psycho-emotional health of those around us.

We express our gratitude to the trainers and the NGO “Girls” for their professional support of our teams.