Training on Working with People Who Have Experienced War Trauma

People with war experience. Dignity. Interaction. These pressing issues were the focus of a staff training session at Kyiv Zoo for those responsible for working with visitors. During the event employees learned about proper dialogue and psychological techniques to assist individuals with various psycho-emotional disorders and syndromes.

We thank the Kyiv City Rehabilitation Center “Askold” and personally Svitlana Shpak, the head of the psychological rehabilitation department and regional coordinator of the All-Ukrainian Mental Health Program “Are You OK?” in Kyiv, for their participation in the training and for many years of collaboration within our zoo-therapy project “The Good Phasmatidae.” Such cooperation enables us to assist a wide range of our compatriots: injured military personnel, affected children, families of displaced persons and other vulnerable groups.

Today we face difficult challenges: rescuing animals from affected regions, ensuring the safety and well-being of the zoo’s residents, and providing psychological support to the population suffering from the war. Finding an approach to everyone, offering psychological support and even providing a simple opportunity to distract from the horrors of war in a natural environment is more relevant than ever.