Psychological trainings for 500 Ukrainian teachers

Mental health and Psychosocial support have been in great need in Ukrainian schools since the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine in February 2022. 

For example, Smart Osvita, jointly with the “Democratic Initiatives Foundation,” conducted research to assess secondary school teachers' needs. The research participants were teachers of the 5th to 6th grades who work within the New Ukrainian School reform and teach in the 7th to 11th grades as well. 

The research data showed that:

-       78% of the teachers surveyed noticed an increase in anxiety, fear, sadness, or anger compared to the period before the full-scale invasion. 

-       Some respondents noticed states that could negatively affect their teaching and student interaction. Thus, almost 40% of the surveyed teachers noticed irritability, and 31% of respondents reported low motivation to work. According to the respondents' self-assessment, 28% of teachers have low concentration. Other factors hindering teaching children include difficulty memorizing and recalling new information. They were noticed by 18% and 13% of respondents, respectively. At the same time, 23% of teachers are vulnerable to criticism from others, which can exacerbate conflict situations when students correct teachers in class.

-       Among 69.5% of the surveyed teachers, there is a request for advanced training in providing first psychological aid to themselves or students. Of these, 43% want to learn more about giving first aid to themselves and their students, 16.5% want to improve their knowledge of providing first aid to students, and the remaining 10% feel the need to improve their skills in providing first aid to themselves. 

Currently, the Smart Osvita team is working on developing the program for school psychologists and the online course targeting their primary needs in defining the states of students and addressing them.

However, the team already planned the 500 teachers' training schedule because we received a generous donation enabling this work.

The training themselves will be conducted in March-April. A detailed update on them will be provided in the next report. Thank you for enabling it! 

There is a war in Ukraine. According to the Office of the Prosecutor General
of Ukraine, as a result of the full-scale armed aggression of the russian federation,
as of October 18, 2023, at least 508 children were killed and more than 1,136
received injuries of various severity. However, on September 1, 2023, the
educational process in Ukraine started.
NGO Smart Osvita conducted a study and having interviewed more than a
thousand of teachers, we found out that most of them now have their own mental
health issues though they see signs of psychological problems in school children.
Teachers have symptoms that are characteristic of the time of war (e.g.
feelings for relatives who are in the combat zone, difficulty experiencing grief).
Most teachers notice mental health disorders of their students associated
with:
• learning (difficulty focusing, learning difficulties),
• manifestations and control of emotions (difficulty controlling
aggression, other emotions, irritability),
• changes in behavior and reactions (impulsiveness, use of profanity,
difficulties in communication).
Almost two-thirds of teachers note kids "fixated" to the phone and computer
games as one of the main symptoms; half of the teacher responders notes a reduced
mood and a loss of interest in daily activities in their schoolkids. A separate group
of signs directly reflects the impact of the war on the mental health of children (e.g.
acute reactions to stress, difficult experiences of grieving, anxiety associated with
the stay of a parent in a combat zone, difficulties returning to tasks after being in a
shelter).
The signs associated with depressive, anxiety, stress disorders are most
clearly manifested, which is natural in the context of a number of social crises (like
war, prolonged distance learning etc).

Parents of students have similar observations. They most often complain
about:
• learning difficulties (poor performance of the tasks, unwillingness to
attend school, decrease in academic efficiency);
• difficulties in communicating with the child (unwillingness to talk, the
increase in the number of conflicts);
• manifestations of low mood, excessive anxiety.
Teachers also pointed out the following changes in their own behavior and
reactions of their colleagues:
• manifestations of depressive, anxiety, stress disorders (depressed
mood, severe anxiety, difficulty regulating emotions, irritability),
• sleep disorders,
• avoiding and switching through "sticking" to the phone, using
profanity, difficulty concentrating.
To support teachers and children during the war time in Ukraine, NGO
Smart Osvita has developed a number of training programs.
Thanks to the money received on the GlobalGiving platform, on September
19, 2023 we trained teachers under the program "Children of War". This training
helped to develop understanding about psychological trauma in teachers and
provided specific techniques to reduce stress and emotional tension. The program’s
constituents were theoretical and practical blocks. The knowledge teachers
received can be applied by them in their work with school children.
Developers of the training curriculum:
- Natalia Podoliak, a family-child psychotherapist (works in CBT,
EMDR, CCT menthods), a trainer of the program “Children and War. Healing
techniques”

- Oksana Makarenko, co-founder of the NGO “Smart Osvita”, the head
of the psychological sector of the organization

During the trainings, teachers learned to identify the signs of psychological
trauma and distinguish its types, were informed about the first steps to stabilize a
child who has experienced traumatic events and worked on the list of the
"therapeutic" and "forbidden" phrases.
Throughout the program, teachers learned bodily manifestations, emotions,
thoughts, and behavior of children of the age groups: under 6 years old, 7-11 and
12-16 years old. The need of this age differentiation was caused by the fact that the
reactions of children on the traumatic events differ depending on their age. In
addition, the trainer helped to determine the type of first psychological aid for
children in each of the age categories.
Natalia emphasized the importance of attracting resources to work with
childhood trauma and advised using a systematic approach and conducting
stabilization exercises and art therapy techniques. Participants got acquainted with
the Mindfulness technique, which taught them to be fully present "here and now"
to notice the usual states of our consciousness, as well as to control attention and
behavior.
In addition, teachers learned to identify signs of child adaptation to traumatic
events, discussed the specific approaches of work in an online format and received
general recommendations and advice for parents of their students.
We sincerely thank GlobalGiving and all donors for supporting our latest
training. Thanks to you, 42 teachers were trained for free and received state relief,
knowledge, support, and professional development certificates. We continue to
raise funds on the GlobalGiving platform and on the Resilience.help website to
conduct future trainings and develop new ones.
Below is some feedback from the participants:

Olga Borisenko:"Very professional, interesting and exciting! Bravo Natalia
and her assistant Catherine. I plan to use the acquired knowledge after the training
in practical work with children and parents, in a school with children with special
requests and in a gymnasium with normotypical children who live in war
conditions. I was during this training that I first learned about the "cloud diving"
technique"
Anastasia Denesyuk: "Thank you Mrs. Natalia for an interesting training!
Resource and useful information that can be further used in your own work. I hope
that I will still have the opportunity to attend the training with you. Thanks again! "
Natalia Kilivnik: "I really liked the training. The main thing is that all the
information is interesting, accessible, verified. All exercises really relieve tension
and soothe. It is very important that everything is used in practice and brings
results. I am very grateful for the wonderful meetings and materials that can be
used in life and work!"
Vera Dobryanskaya: "I am very grateful to Natalia Podolyak for the detailed,
useful, informative and practical knowledge. Both theoretical and practical parts
were useful for further work. It was also interesting to listen to the additions of
other colleagues".
Olena Bulyha: "The training is useful because it systematizes both
theoretical knowledge in psychology and practically equips the teacher with
methodological techniques for stabilizing the state of children and adults in
conditions of uncertainty, stressful and post-traumatic situations"

With love and gratitude - NGO Smart osvita

Links:

• https://www.resilience.help/
• https://en.smart-osvita.org/
• https://nus.org.ua/