Cultural and psychological competence of a psychologist accompanying military personnel

We all know that the motivation and mental state of the defenders is what helped us survive at the beginning of the war and helps us to be successful now. We also know that our military is constantly evolving. And it is important for us to be a part of this process. Within the framework of the project "Cultural-psychological competence of a psychologist accompanied by military personnel", psychologists of the "YARMIZ" center - Maryna Syrytsia and Olga Kuharuk - work with officers of the MPZ. Today, the Armed Forces of Ukraine employ full-time specialists in the field of mental health who already have both experience and qualifications. But there are also civilian specialists in Ukraine who have experience and knowledge in the field of psychology of war and psychology of trauma, which can be useful for the army. Our training is a communication between two equal parties. We offer psychological knowledge and practices, and officers naturally know better how to apply them in the realities in which they have to serve. We talked about such topics as the psychology of stress and injuries, and as a practical lesson we worked out the protocols of psychological first aid and physical stabilization. They dealt with the subject of addiction and the limits of competence of police officers, and also introduced the listeners to the technique of motivational interviewing. The topic that affected many and caused active discussion was the topic of family relationships, mutual support of partners during the service of one or one of them. And, of course, we could not ignore the difficult but very important topic of gender-based violence.