Our Beginnings

From April 2022 to May 2023  The International Center for Mental Health and Human Rights, a US–based 501c3 organization, and the International Association for Group Psychotherapy provided a year-long online trauma training, the Support Ukraine Initiative (scroll down for details), for Ukrainian clinicians on the front lines, on the ground and in the diaspora. Supported by generous donors and a remarkable guest faculty, we worked closely with Ukrainian psychiatrists, military and civilian psychologists, group therapists, and graduate students in the fields of psychology and social work to help strengthen resilience, emotional regulation, theoretical knowledge, and clinical capacity in the treatment and prevention of PTSD for soldiers and civilians — parents and children, separated families, and ever-increasing numbers of widows. In its clinical efficacy, the Support Ukraine Initiative had a strong impact on over 450 clinicians and, by extension, their patients. However, as the war raged on, we realized a more sustainable long-term commitment would be necessary to support the mental health needs of the nation and its care providers in order to help insure against the risk of clinician burn-out and multigenerational trauma.

As Ukraine launched its counter-offensive in June of 2023, we began a series of conversations to develop a more sustainable project: a new institute for the study and training of trauma treatment to be housed within the State Pedagogical University in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. The planning meetings included University President Dr. Natalia Lazarenko, Dean of Psychology, Dr. Olha Palamarchiuk, Professor, Dr. Tetiana Komar,  Mr. Douglas Gardner, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Ukraine (2000-2004),  and four expert US-based ICMHHR training faculty members. Dr. Olha Serha, a Ukrainian child psychiatrist, served as our lead translator for the meetings. On September 4, 2023, Dr. Lazarenko, President of the University at Vinnytsia, co-signed a five year Memorandum of Cooperation with ICMHHR creating the International Institute for Trauma Studies (IITS) and establishing Gaea Logan as the US Executive Director.  Dr. Palamarchiuk and Dr. Komar,  together with the Vinnytsia Director of Education, the Lieutenant Governor, Mr. Douglas Gardner and ICMHHR faculty were witness to the signing.  The ICMHHR team, led by Gaea Logan,  is honored and grateful to be entrusted with this meaningful responsibility to continue in a deep working alliance with our Ukrainian colleagues and graduate students in this devastating time of war.

Our Mission

IITS will serve as an online regional/global trauma training hub and certification program for Ukrainian graduate students and faculty in the fields of psychology and social work;  military psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health clinicians on the ground, on the frontlines and in the diaspora. Motivated undergraduate students who have begun working in the field may also meet enrollment eligibility.

Curriculum

The curriculum will focus on three areas: communal trauma, combat trauma and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for treatment-resistant PTSD. The training will emphasize the practice of group therapy rather than individual treatment, as it is considered the gold standard in trauma treatment and a more efficient strategy for addressing the enormous scope of communal trauma.

Our Certification Program

The IITS certification program will include semester-long courses and the “Luminaries Series” which consists of monthly lectures offered by a team of international experts in the field of trauma. IITS offers an integrative approach at the intersection of contemporary psychoanalysis, neuroscience and evidence-based trauma treatment. Topics will include working with grief, parents and children, addiction, sexual assault, multigenerational trauma, moral injury, combat trauma, death and dying, loss of absolutisms, suicide, innovations in psychedelic medicine, meditation and clinical supervision. Completion of the certification program will  prepare Ukrainian clinicians for the heavy burden of their nation’s mental health needs to mitigate the disruptive impact of psycho-traumatic factors, helping to prevent post-traumatic disorders, improve the level of psychological functioning, and reduce symptoms of dysregulation and chronic stress within the civilian and military populations.

For the duration of the war IITS will be free of charge to all participants enrolled. Beyond the war, scholarships will be awarded to former military personnel interested in advancing their own healing and seeking to train as psychologists to support the recovery of other combatants and/or civilians.

Funding

IITS will be initially funded by charitable donations to ICMHHR. As the program successfully meets its mission goals, fundraising will expand to larger foundations and US and international government bodies.

Please join us in our response to the profound needs expressed by those who will be shouldering the psychological and spiritual recovery of the nation of Ukraine — the present and future generations of care providers in a nation under catastrophic assault by its neighbor. With your help, Ukraine and democracy will not only survive, but thrive again.

For more information about how you can support this work, please feel free to contact us:

Gaea Logan, LPC-S, AGPA- Fellow
US  – Executive Director
The International Institute for Trauma Studies
State Pedagogical University, Vinnystia, Ukraine
gaealogan@gmail.com
1 512 694 1393
icmhhr.org

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