East SOS Psychological Support Team Completes Specialized Training on Working With Veterans and Their Families
In June, the East SOS psychologists took part in the training program “Specifics of Psychological Counselling for Veterans and Their Family Members”.
For the past six months, the Foundation has been developing support services for veterans and their families, providing social and legal assistance alongside psychological support. Our psychologists work with people experiencing grief, exhaustion, difficulties adapting to civilian life, and other consequences of war.
The team provides individual consultations and support groups. To ensure that assistance is tailored as closely as possible to the needs of each person seeking support, the Foundation regularly organizes specialised trainings.
In June, the psychologists deepened their knowledge of the physiology of stress and crisis reactions, as well as the impact of crisis situations on a person’s emotions, thinking and behaviour. They also studied protocols for providing assistance in cases of acute suicidal crisis and approaches to supporting people experiencing grief and ambiguous loss.
A separate part of the training focused on maintaining professional resilience. The specialists studied techniques for stabilising emotional states, self-help and other self-regulation tools.
“Psychological support does not begin with ready-made answers, but with understanding what a person needs at that particular moment. That is why we continuously develop our skills: to better assess a person’s needs, select effective approaches and, when necessary, refer them to other professionals,” said Tetiana Kosova, Training Manager and Psychologist at East SOS.
The training was one of the stages in developing the East SOS expertise in working with veterans and their families. The Foundation will continue developing a support system that combines psychological, social and legal assistance.
The activities were implemented as part of the project “Protection and Essential Psychosocial Support for War-Affected Residents in Frontline Areas” (2026–2027) with financial support from the German Federal Foreign Office.
Read more about the support provided by the East SOS team to veterans and their families.
