Prospects and Challenges of Group Social and Psychological Rehabilitation in Ukraine: Conference Results

From July 28 to 30, the Conference of Self-Help Practitioners, initiated by the GURT Resource Center with the support of the Swedish government, was held in Lviv region. The event was attended by specialists who provide social and psychological rehabilitation services to war victims and public activists who understand the importance of such work and seek to develop this area in Ukraine.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss problematic methodological issues, find effective solutions in providing assistance to victims through the work of SAGs and, of course, share valuable practical experience.

Self-help groups as a tool for working with vulnerable groups are not very common in Ukraine. There are many stereotypes about them, so the conference participants began by analyzing the myths associated with SAGs and debunking them.

In order to maximize the involvement of all participants and create a dialog, the second day was organized in the format of a world café. The key topic was the standards of group social and psychological rehabilitation. Participants analyzed the challenges associated with them and developed recommendations for overcoming them based on their experience.

“We work with internally displaced persons, including many family members of our soldiers. According to the participants, the value of self-help groups for them is that it is an opportunity to communicate on an equal footing with those who have similar problems and a similar internal state,” says Andrii Kinash, facilitator of the SAG, Poltava branch of the Social Service of Ukraine. “ We see that group psychosocial rehabilitation is very relevant, and this activity is gaining momentum. It is important to understand that this is work for the future: we are now launching processes, and the results will appear gradually. The longer we work, the more significant they will be. Society needs to understand that this is an effective mechanism, and it takes time. This conference gave me the opportunity to meet interesting people from very different organizations, but who are united by common activities. Special thanks for the World Café format – it is really effective because it allows us to discuss important working issues with a large number of people with different backgrounds.”

Inna Dovhaliuk, head of the NGO “Tsvit” (Vyshnivets, Ternopil Oblast), also speaks about the relevance: “The potential of the CFCs is enormous, especially in today’s realities. From my own facilitator experience, I can say that the demand for this activity is increasing! We have been running several groups in our community for a year now and we see that the number of visitors is only growing. My colleagues and I have been trained by the GURT Resource Center and are now actively using this knowledge in practice. We are sincerely grateful for the invitation to the conference! We got a lot of new information, made useful contacts, and enjoyed the positive atmosphere.”

“Our community is quite small ,” adds Oksana Hrotska, a colleague of Inna’s, a facilitator at the NGO Tsvit, “but today, in the context of constant anxiety, self-help groups are in demand. They are relevant for both IDPs and local residents. It is extremely valuable that this conference is held in person. Such an exchange of experience is a powerful flow of information that we need to adopt and use in the work of our self-help groups.”

The conference had a separate session for facilitators. In this part, they discussed in groups the problems they face in their work: being overwhelmed by the grief of others, fear of interacting with “difficult” personalities, indifference to the emotions of people and others. People who lead GAD themselves had the opportunity to be in the role of group members and relieve themselves psychologically. At a separate session, the participants also discussed the difficulties that can arise in communicating with different vulnerable groups.

“These days we had education, group work, exchange of ideas, and new acquaintances,” shares her impressions Liubov Mykhailiuk, head of the “Tree of My Life” Charitable Foundation (Uzhhorod), “ The experience of each participant is valuable, everyone was able to learn something for themselves. After working together, some new developments, decisions, and new perceptions emerge. This is an opportunity to look at your work from a different angle and, perhaps, adjust your activities. After all, it happens that in theory everything should work very well, but in practice something goes wrong. People with similar experience can tell you how to avoid pitfalls. So events like this conference are very much needed.”

This material was prepared within the framework of the project “Psychosocial Self-Help to Support Communities in Ukraine” implemented by the GURT Resource Center with the financial support of Sweden.

The opinions, conclusions or recommendations are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Government of Sweden. The content of this material is the sole responsibility of the authors.

Source – gurt.org.ua