Mental Resilience Program: Outcomes of the First Trainings

These trainings became a crucial step in developing a supportive environment for media professionals working in combat conditions. Participants gained practical knowledge for working in high-risk environments, learned to prevent burnout, and adapt their approaches to modern challenges.

During three intensive training sessions, participants mastered:

• Techniques for developing stress resistance and emotional regulation
• In-depth understanding of trauma-informed approach
• Tools for countering online attacks
• Practical solutions for preventing professional burnout
• Adaptation of editorial policies to current conditions

The program united journalists and media managers, creating a powerful support community in today’s extremely challenging conditions. Each training was unique while being part of a comprehensive mental health support strategy for media professionals.

Participant Feedback

Yulia Chervinska, Photo Editor:
“A beneficial and substantive training. Trauma consideration in journalism, secondary trauma management, and working with sensitive content — these are timely resilience development tools. The section on working with sensitive images was particularly valuable for me.”

Yevhen Popiesko, Project Manager, Trainer, Mentor, Facilitator:
“Interesting and useful training! I learned more about trauma-informed leadership, journalists’ needs, and how to properly communicate with traumatized people without re-traumatizing them.”

Olga Derkach, Practicing Psychologist:
“Previously, I had not worked with the media community. Interactive work formats allowed me to view a familiar problem differently. The level of participants and speakers contributed to gaining valuable experience and knowledge. Thus, through the training, I discovered new challenges related to trauma, its biopsychosocial model, and the specifics of supporting journalists in the workplace.”

Viktoriia Kurchynska, Photo Editor: “We were always attentive to team work in the editorial office, but after the training, I personally pay even more attention to the fact that team safety in the field (physical and mental) is the top priority. If we can avoid traumatic experiences, it’s better to do so. We have become more thorough in planning complex topics. Now I feel more confident when discussing traumatic events.”

Oleksandra Malevych, Editor-in-Chief: “The training was extremely useful. We introduced a board in the editorial office, similar to the one from the training, where you need to show whether you’re a ‘sunshine’ or a ‘cloud’ today. Each employee has their own sticker, and this incredibly influenced the communication within the team, as now we can immediately see the psychological and emotional state of colleagues.”

Yulia Sukharevska, Editorial Director: “The training helped me look more closely at how many people actually need support, even those who seemed the strongest. This is an important understanding. After participating, I conducted additional meetings where I raised issues of burnout and traumatic responses to events.”

Tetiana Khomenko, Psychologist, Mental Support for Media: “The training allowed me better to understand the causes of psychological problems for journalists and implement new methods of discussing traumatic topics. Now I feel more confident when discussing complex events.”

Tetiana Smolyaninova, R2P, Psychologist, Regional Coordinator of Psychosocial Program: “Discussing the topic with the involvement of journalists expanded the horizon of the problem. Thanks to participation, I developed my own training for parents, teenagers, and other beneficiary categories.”

Natalia Moroz, Radio Freedom: “The training allowed me to approach the topic of trauma more sensitively and responsibly. We began to more actively involve specialist help regarding individual needs of correspondents and for the entire project. We started developing colleague support policies that include preparation for psychologically difficult shoots and effective debriefing.”

The uniqueness of our Mental Resilience Development Program lies in its comprehensive approach: we do not simply teach, we create a mutual support environment where each participant receives the necessary tools for professional and personal resilience.

Our goal remains unchanged — to provide media professionals with effective strategies for overcoming emotional exhaustion and psychological challenges in modern conditions.