ITR on the Front Lines of Healing in Ukraine

Healing Beyond Borders: Training Ukrainian Psychologists, Military Personnel, and Helping Professionals

Recently, we had the honor of training more than 30 psychologists and helping professionals from Ukraine in the Instinctual Trauma Response® (ITR®) method. Several participants were affiliated with Vinnytsia National Pirogov Memorial Medical University, while others were serving in the military or providing support to military personnel, veterans, displaced families, and civilians affected by war.

These professionals are working on the front lines of one of the world's most challenging humanitarian crises. Their commitment to learning effective trauma recovery tools demonstrates an extraordinary dedication to the people they serve.

Participants reported both personal healing and professional growth from the training:

"Thank you for clear explanations, and guidance. In my own case, I observed a reduction in the intensity of a traumatic event from 5 to 1 using the Graphic Narrative and Externalized Dialogue techniques."

"This was extremely valuable, and at the same time I could feel the instructors' care and attention throughout the learning process. The information is highly relevant and applicable for working with a wide range of clients."

"My sincere gratitude to your entire wonderful team for these important seminars, new knowledge, and valuable materials. Since 2022, I have dreamed of taking training like this."

"Thank you for the wonderful opportunity to further broaden your horizons in working with clients. This was one of the positive moments of my military service."

"This was an incredibly insightful and valuable course. The experiential format made complex trauma concepts much easier to understand and integrate into practice. I am leaving the course with deeper knowledge, greater confidence, and practical tools that will benefit both my clinical work and my teaching."

"This is a great way to learn how to guide someone through the ITR process by doing your own. It shows how it can be done at a quicker pace."

"Powerful course full of valuable tools to work with traumatic experience. Thank you for sharing this important knowledge!"

"This course was informative and well-structured. Every tool was very well explained, and it helped me understand each step of the process better. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with us!"

What stands out across all of these comments is not only the effectiveness of the method, but also the importance of making trauma recovery training accessible. Participants consistently describe gaining practical skills, increased confidence, personal insight, and tools they can immediately apply in their work and lives.

Every psychologist, counselor, peer support worker, educator, military member, and survivor who learns ITR® becomes another source of healing in their community.

As we work toward our mission of helping one million people find relief from traumatic stress symptoms, stories like these remind us that healing can spread person to person, family to family, and community to community—across countries, cultures, and even conflict zones.

One trained helper can change hundreds of lives. Together, we can change millions.