Introduction
The main objective of this project is to disseminate knowledge about reactions to war, trauma, human rights, and how psychological expertise can help, and prevent aversive psychological consequences of fleeing a war situation. Particularly, we are aiming to focus on strategies to respond to the crisis, and to meet the urgent psychological needs of those affected. Also, providing accurate and evidence-based information helping those (e.g., volunteers, aid workers) who are working with the war-affected populations.
To meet these objectives, the Department of Psychology at the University of Oslo together with the Faculty of Psychology at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv developed a webinar series and teaching materials mainly tailored to psychologists and psychology students in Ukraine, but also to countries that receive Ukrainian refugees, such as Poland as well as in Norway. The objective is for helpers to be able to assist and provide psychological assistance to civilians and internally displaced people in Ukraine, refugees in neighboring countries, as well as asylum seekers in Norway. The project is further described in this video introduction that you can access here.
Video Introduction
This video introduction is hosted by:
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Bjørn Lau, University of Oslo, Head of Department of Psychology
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Svitlana Y. Paschenko, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Faculty of Psychology, Deputy Dean for Research and International Cooperation
Lectures
In collaboration with our Ukrainian colleagues, we decided on covering six key topics, including children in war, sexual violence, forced migration and human rights. Expert trauma psychologists, practitioners and scholars came forth to contribute to the project and recorded a lecture each on the chosen topics. Ukrainian subtitles and Polish subtitles have been added to these lectures. All the videos of the lectures are available on this website, as are the slides used in the lectures. These can be freely used for teaching purposes and we encourage universities as well as NGOs or agencies involved in the support of refugees, to use this material for inspiration and guidance. Our experience is that combining the presentations of these lectures, with a discussion following, is a good way of doing this. When this project was introduced (May-June 2022), we uploaded a new lecture each week, and the relevant lecturer in that week’s video contributed to a zoom discussion on the topic, mainly with Ukrainian students and professionals. Translators were available during the discussion.
Lecture 6 Marianne Opaas on "Forced migration and trauma":
Lecture 5 Anette Bringedal Houge on "Sexual violence":
Lecture 4 Tine Jensen on "How can we understand and support trauma exposed children? Some things to do":
Lecture 3 Helen Suizu Norheim on "Helping pregnant women and parents with infants and young children facing war, insecurity, and trauma":
Lecture 2 Nora Sveaass on "Human Rights violations in war and its psychological consequences":
Lecture 1 Ragnhild Dybdahl on "Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) in humanitarian emergencies":
Pubications
Anjum, G., Aziz, M., & Hamid, H. K. (2023). Life and mental health in limbo of the Ukraine war: How can helpers assist civilians, asylum seekers and refugees affected by the war? Frontiers in Psychology, 14. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1129299
Overview of zoom-discussions and reflection
All times are in Norwegian:
Week 21, seminar on zoom: Friday 27th of May, 10 AM - 1 PM (Norwegian time) Ragnhild Dybdahl, The Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) in humanitarian emergencies
Week 22, seminar on zoom: Thursday 2 June, 9 - 11 AM Nora Sveaass, University of Oslo: Human Rights violations in war and its psychological consequences
Week 23, seminar on zoom: Thursday 9 June, 9 - 11 AM Helen Suizu Norheim, University of Oslo: Helping pregnant women and parents with infants and young children facing war, insecurity, and trauma
Week 24, seminar on zoom: Monday 13 June, 10 AM - 12 PM Tine Jensen, University of Oslo: How can we understand and support trauma exposed children? Some things to do
Week 25, seminar on zoom: Monday, 20 June, 08 - 10 AM Anette Bringedal Houge, University of Oslo: Sexual violence
Week 26, seminar on zoom: Tuesday 28 June, 9 - 11 AM Marianne Opaas, Norwegian centre for violence and traumatic stress: Forced migration and trauma.
Student-to-student groups
Students at Psychology students without borders were trained by Mental Health and Human Rights Info in a human-rights based approach to trauma and resilience. They then conducted online trainings with students of psychology at Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. These trainings are continued in the Fall of 2023.
Closed supervision groups
A separate initiative was closed supervision groups for psychologists/helpers in Ukraine. This initiative was based on a collaboration between the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo and the Ukrainian universities. The idea was to set up supervision groups for Ukrainian psychologists and people working with refugees by building a collaboration between the department of psychology at the University of Oslo and Ukrainian universities and to see what the Ukrainian psychologists need, and how the PSI could best support them. Groups were set up with one Norwegian psychologist and 5-6 people working in Ukraine, and these closed groups had approximately 3 supervision/ dialogue sessions per group. The language of the groups was either English (when all the people involved spoke English), or a translator was included so that the participants could speak Ukrainian. Based on the interest for such groups, these may be set up again.
Working group at PSI
Members of the working group were Gulnaz Anjum, Milan Obaidi, Nora Sveaass, Sigrun Marie Moss, Lasse Moer (IT-AV), Ann-Cathrin Coenen, Alice Nordquist and Svein Harald Milde, supported by Head of the Institute Bjørn Lau, Head of Teaching Vibeke Moe, and Head of Section Beate Seibt.
Collaborators
The working group at the Department of Psychology collaborated closely with Ukrainian professionals at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv's Faculty of Psychology (TSNUK). We also collaborated with Anna Gebinska at The SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities. The Polish and Ukrainian translators involved in the project were fantastic, and without them this project would not have been possible. The working group at the Department of Psychology also collaborated closely with Mental Health and Human Rights Info (MHHRI), a Norwegian NGO, providing information on mental health and human rights).
Psychological perspectives on the war against Ukraine: Event on March 7, 2022
On March 7, 2022, 2 weeks after the Russian attack on Ukraine, the Psychological Institute arranged an event with talks on the war, on trauma and on politics, giving faculty and students a chance to reflect and engage. The Ukraine initiative grew out of this event.