Kuharuk O., k. psycho. n.
ISPP NAPS of Ukraine
Syritsa M., teacher
VI Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
V. Konchyts, Deputy. the commander from the MPZ
20th Special Forces Brigade
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE OF INTERACTION BETWEEN THE PUBLIC SECTOR AND MILITARY UNITS OF THE ARMED FORCES OF UKRAINE IN THE SPHERE
PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT FOR MILITARY SERVANTS AND MEMBERS OF THEIR FAMILIES
The war between Russia and Ukraine, which is now in its eleventh year, has exacerbated the mental health crisis, both among servicemen, veterans and their family members, and among the civilian population. According to the Ministry of Veterans of Ukraine, the number of citizens with the status of “war veteran” will increase fourfold – to approximately 5 million (18% of the population of our country). The war as a whole creates significant challenges for the state and society, so supporting mental health is becoming a critical priority for the state
policies for the population with different social statuses acquired during the war.
One of the main tasks for the country in times of war is to maintain the combat capability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the overall stability of the country's population. After all, effective interaction between military units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the civilian sector is a guarantee of maintaining social cohesion, which provides an opportunity to increase the capabilities for psychological support of the military on the one hand, and on the other - to increase the awareness of civilians about
military experience and ways to establish effective communication.
In order to implement the above tasks, to form a systematic approach for psychological support of the personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the basis of the 20th separate special purpose battalion “Ukraine” of the Separate Presidential Brigade named after Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky (hereinafter – the 20th OBSpP), with the support and in cooperation with the public sector and state authorities, a pilot project “Formation of a system of psychological support for defenders and their families as a guarantee of community stability” (hereinafter – the Project) was implemented.
The project was implemented on the basis of the Memorandum concluded between the 20th OBSpP and the Charitable Organization “Charitable Foundation Center for Readaptation and Rehabilitation “YARMIZ” (hereinafter referred to as the “Charitable Foundation of the Center for Readaptation and Rehabilitation “YARMIZ”) within the framework of its statute with the financial support of the International Renaissance Foundation and with the involvement of volunteer assistance. Other interested parties also participated in the Project [1]. Civilian psychologists Olga Kuharuk, Maria Oliynyk, Maryna Syritsa, as well as the deputy commander of the military unit for moral and psychological support, Major Volodymyr Konchyts, participated in the development of the Project.
During the development of the Project, the needs of military personnel were taken into account in accordance with the cycles of their service and combat activities. The main objectives of the Project were defined as: meeting the needs of military personnel - Defenders of Ukraine, as well as their family members, for psychological support; training and expanding the competence of military psychologists, family psychologists, and other providers of psychological services; establishing interaction with local governments; promoting the development of the capacity of communities to provide mental health services and psychosocial support to veterans and their family members.
The project combined six separate areas that had common goals and values, the activities of which were carried out in parallel over six months of 2023, namely:
- 5-day training program “The System of Psychological Support for Military Personnel as a Basic Factor in Forming the Resilience of the Armed Forces” – for active military personnel;
- group supervisions – for psychologist officers, cadets of the Military Institute of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, studying in the specialty 053 “Psychology”;
- development of a methodological manual “Guide to the Mental Health of Military Personnel in Wartime” – to train civilian and military psychologists to work with military personnel, veterans, and their family members;
- program “5 Steps of Resilience for Those Who Wait” (support for wives/husbands, partners/partners of military personnel) – for civilian psychologists;
- lectures and discussions on legal issues – for families of military personnel, demobilized military personnel, and veterans;
- training “The role of communities and public administration bodies in building a people-friendly state” – for representatives of local government bodies and other community representatives.
This systematic approach ultimately ensured the creation of a network of reliable and continuous support for military personnel and their family members, further strengthening the adaptive capacity of veterans during the transition to civilian life.
During the implementation of the Project, a system of psychological work in wartime was developed, aimed at psychological support of the military at all levels: direct support for active military personnel and their families; training and strengthening of military and civilian psychologists; establishing military-civilian cooperation; forming support for military personnel and veterans in the rear and establishing interaction.
More details about the specifics of the implementation of each direction.
A five-day program for training junior officers and sergeants in the basics of psychological support was developed and implemented for active military personnel, entitled “The System of Psychological Support for Military Personnel as a Basic Factor in Forming the Resilience of the Armed Forces”. The main idea of this part of the program was that psychological training was carried out for non-psychologists, i.e. commanders, junior officers and sergeants, so that they could understand their own condition and the condition of their comrades and provide basic psychological support during service on a “peer-to-peer” basis, and establish referral mechanisms for professional help if necessary. In the future, after demobilization, those who have undergone this training will be able to focus on work in “peer-to-peer” programs or other veteran initiatives, already having the basics of psychological knowledge and experience in supporting their comrades.
The training included the following modules: psychological first aid; initial screening and understanding of the most common negative mental states; work in small groups and group dynamics; peer support; psychological resilience in conditions of prolonged war; topics related to family relationships and life values.
The main idea of this direction is: “there is life in war”, so the topics of the exercises were expanded - from combat stress and fostering resilience to issues of interaction in the unit, motivation, interaction with society and family and other related topics. We managed to teach them to speak among themselves in
important and difficult topics that arise during the service.
A total of 28 junior officers and sergeants were trained.
The total duration of the training was 30 hours. After completion, the officers and sergeants practiced the acquired knowledge in practical work with personnel. Within the framework of the work, 10 groups of 4 hours each were held, involving 66 servicemen.
Another direction of the project was training for psychological officers and moral and psychological support officers (hereinafter referred to as MPS). This direction included training modules on basic topics of psychological support, 24-hour supervision support, which was provided for psychological officers and psychology cadets of the Military Institute of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in order to reduce internal fears and increase motivation to continue serving in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In total, 13 group supervisions were conducted, which were conducted online for 2 hours and were attended by 70 people. The invited experts were active practicing officers.
During the supervisions, complex cases were considered, practical tools in the work of a psychologist were discussed and practiced, and possible solutions to various situations were considered. In continuation of this work, a mobile response team was created from psychological officers under the leadership of Syritsa M. and decompression measures were implemented on the basis of 20 OBSpP.
As a methodological support for our work, a “Guide to the Mental Health of Military Personnel in Wartime” was compiled (compiled by Kuharuk O., Syritsa M. in cooperation with the Scientific Research Center for Humanitarian Problems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine), which collected and described more than 40 sources relevant at the time of publication, dedicated to working with military experience and psychological support for the military [2].
The direction of psychological support for families was based on the program “5 steps of building resilience for those who wait” (authors of the program M. Oliynyk and M. Syrytsia) [3]. The program included the development of methodological materials, training and supervision of psychologists during work on this program, holding support groups for female partners of military personnel and their further support. This program involved, in particular, female partners of military personnel from units of the 20th OBSpP, where other areas of the project were implemented.
This format of interaction with the group makes it possible to reduce tension and escalation in the families of military personnel, strengthen the capacity and understanding of partners about the peculiarities of changes during combat experience, prevent elements of domestic violence in families and contribute to strengthening the moral and psychological state of military personnel, which further enhances their effectiveness on the battlefield. 40 meetings were implemented for 5 support groups (2 offline groups and 3 online groups) for 40 wives of military personnel.
Based on the analysis of the experience gained, in cooperation with military psychologists and officers from the Military Police, in particular with the involvement of officers from the 20th Special Operations Command, communication trainings were developed for community representatives, which included topics such as psychoeducation about the peculiarities of military experience, basic queries and points of tension that may arise during communications, and opportunities for understanding [4]. Three blocks of classes provided community representatives with an understanding of methods of effective communication with veterans, prevention and overcoming stigmatization, stereotypes and prejudices, and the peculiarities of reactions and post-reactions to potentially traumatic experiences received during service. 77 community representatives from different parts of Ukraine were involved.
Also, to support families who have had difficult experiences and the consequences of war, legal support lectures and discussions on legal issues were organized for families of military personnel, demobilized military personnel, and war veterans. The lectures were attended by 179 people.
All areas of the program were implemented in close cooperation between military (psychological officers, officers from the Military Police) and civilian psychologists.
Conclusions.
Cooperation between military and civilian specialists, the simultaneous development of several logically interconnected areas of psychological support and education make it possible to mutually strengthen capabilities, form a system of psychological support for military personnel and their family members with effective and ecological involvement of civilians, form in civilians a realistic idea of the realities of military service and the peculiarities of interaction, create a safe field for exchanging experience and a platform for deepening understanding. The program showed that in the continuous cycle of psychological support for military personnel and their family members, each of the participants in this process has its own important role, and with fruitful interaction, these roles can be mutually reinforced. The systemic approach has proven to be effective and efficient. In the future, there is a need for sustainable implementation and scaling, as well as the need to develop and ensure greater interaction between all parties.
List of sources used:
- Проєкт «Формування системи психологічного супроводу захисників та їх родин як запорука стійкості громад». URL: https://yarmiz.org.ua/ua/2023/05/21/%d1%84%d0%be%d1%80%d0%bc%d1%83
%d0%b2%d0%b0%d0%bd%d0%bd%d1%8f-%d1%81%d0%b8%d1%81%d1%82
%d0%b5%d0%bc%d0%b8%d0%bf%d1%81%d0%b8%d1%85%d0%be%d0%bb
%d0%be%d0%b3%d1%96%d1%87%d0%bd%d0%be%d0%b3%d0%be-
%d1%81/ (дата звернення: 05.06.2024).
- Kuharuk O.Yu., Syritsa M.V. Guide to the mental health of military personnel in wartime. URL: https://drive.google.com/
file/d/1opvyIpcLk43ULboyRW3PlKlmw3PovlNU/view?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW
0CMTAAAR3dZkGCEKaDOT8d6MwakKTtGawp156BxFKmVxtiTVRQsdUsfY
v_ER-fiY_aem_AfP8ZSbIO5WKpuf0bLbh59WStMd11lIy3q1u3is3cfXlbMHur 27
7ZNEc4NyE3stouONHQEpNWs1vbkdIiuKIX7Cc7C
(date of application: 05/31/2024).
- Program "5 Steps of Resilience for Those Who Wait". URL: https://yarmiz.org.ua/ua/2023/07/09/7219/ (access date: 05/31/2024).
- Results of six months of work within the framework of the project "Formation of a system of psychological support for defenders and their families as a guarantee of community resilience." URL: https://yarmiz.org.ua/ua/2023/11/02/rezultat/ (access date: 02.06.2024).
Material from the collection of scientific reports of the All-Ukrainian Scientific and Practical Conference “RECOVERY OF MENTAL HEALTH
MILITARY SERVICEMEN” with international participation (Tysovets, June 12-14, 2024)
Restoration of mental health of military personnel: materials of the All-Ukrainian scientific-practical conference with international participation, Tysovets, June 12-14, 2024.
Kyiv: Research Center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 2024. 90 p.