In modern realities, when every day Ukrainian police officers find themselves in the situations of increased danger, the ability to act not only physically, but also psychologically becomes especially relevant. It is for this purpose that police officers from the educational security service units who are undergoing training at the Mariupol Center for Initial Professional Training “Police Academy” of the DonSUIA took part in the training “Providing Psychological First Aid in Emergency Situations.”
The speakers of the event were Yevhenia Pohribna, head of the Psychological Support Department of the Center for Supporting the Activities of the Main Office of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the Kirovohrad region; senior psychologist of the Human Resources Unit of the Patrol Police Department in the Kirovohrad Region Alla Postevka; сrisis psychologist, head of the Department of Extreme and Crisis Psychology of the DonSUIA (on a voluntary basis) Andrii Fomenko; psychologist of the special operations battalion “Eney” of the combined assault brigade “Liut” Maryna Mykhailenko.
During the training, the Academy students not only learned the theoretical foundations of crisis response, but also worked on practical situations that recreated the conditions of real events. Considerable attention was paid to developing skills in recognizing stress reactions, overcoming barriers to communication, and determining algorithms for providing assistance depending on the nature of the incident and the victim’s condition.
“Such trainings are not only the time requirement, but also a practical need. In crisis situations, the right word, a calm voice, or confident support can be critically important for a person who has experienced shock, loss, or other acute traumatic event,” noted Andrii Fomenko.
Forming the culture of providing psychological assistance among the DonSUIA police officers is another step towards the European model of the law enforcement system, where protecting a person is not only about physical safety, but also about emotional recovery.
