Working with addictions is a serious challenge. And not only for military psychologists or commanders who deal with this every day, but also for civilian specialists involved in supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
This topic is complex, voluminous and very often uncomfortable or even taboo. And that is why it is important to constantly keep it in the focus of attention. Because the dependence of one person during service is not only about this particular person. It is about the unit, about cohesion, about combat effectiveness and also about the family and people who are waiting and supporting. And, of course, first of all, it is about the safety of the person himself and the unit.
We recently conducted peer-to-peer training for military personnel 210th Separate Assault Regiment, who work with personnel. The topic of the training was working with addictions in the unit. This training became part of a large project of psychological support for defenders and their families, which we are implementing together with partners.
The Center's specialists, together with the training participants, looked for opportunities to notice signs of the emergence of various types of addictions and intervene promptly, without waiting for the "bottom".
We talked a lot about the boundaries of responsibility: what a commander and his comrades can do, what a psychological officer can do, and when it's definitely time to involve external specialists.
One of the training modules was dedicated to how to work ahead, including through formal and informal rules in the unit, mutual support of colleagues, the ability to communicate on complex topics, comprehensive prevention, and access to various methods of recovery and psychological relief.
We jointly tried to make prevention perceived not as lectures "for the sake of ticking off the box", but as an opportunity to make it normal in the unit to ask for help, to speak frankly, to have resources for recovery, and not to "silence" fatigue or pain.
This is teamwork – of commanders, psychologists, and comrades. And the specialists of "Yarmiz" do everything possible to assist: conduct training, provide tools, and create conditions for reflection and discussion of experience.
The Peer to Peer program is not about making every psychologist or specialist an addiction specialist. It's about having people in every department who can notice, who aren't afraid to speak up, and who know where to point. People who can be a point of support.
We don't have instant, easy solutions, but we have the tools to be there and intervene in time and make combating addictions more effective. And we really believe that this work makes sense. We are grateful to everyone who attended this training for their openness and willingness to work with this difficult topic.
The trainings are held within the framework of the project "Resilience. Strength. Support" with the support of European Union in Ukraine and and International Renaissance Foundation within the framework of the joint initiative "European Renaissance of Ukraine: Civil Society Resilience and Recovery Initiative".The material represents the views of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or the International Renaissance Foundation.