Technologies of psychological rehabilitation of a personality after traumatic events (on the example of the rehabilitation programme for psychologists of the security and defence sector of Ukraine)

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Today, psychologists in the security and defence sector of Ukraine work in extremely difficult conditions, providing psychological support to the military, who face various stressful situations. The full-scale war has created a unique situation where people in helping professions (psychologists, psychotherapists, social and medical workers, volunteers, etc.) experience a common trauma with the people they help. Psychologists who work in war and provide assistance to victims of traumatic events experience emotional (professional) burnout, secondary traumatisation and a number of negative mental states that are currently poorly understood. Given the impossibility of reducing the professional burden on people in these professions, the issue of developing and implementing a special multicomponent psychological recovery programme aimed at maintaining psychological health and preventing emotional burnout syndrome and secondary trauma in professionals in helping professions becomes relevant. The article presents a detailed description of the author’s programme of social and psychological rehabilitation of psychologists in the security and defence sector of Ukraine “The Way to Victory”. The main goal of the programme is to update the existing and search for new resources to strengthen stress resistance and restore the strength of participants, mastering new methods of preventing professional burnout of psychologists. The programme lasts a week and includes five consecutive blocks: 1) getting acquainted and getting into a new experience; 2) actualisation of problematic issues, peculiarities of experiencing stressful and traumatic situations; 3) grief and loss; 4) prevention and overcoming professional burnout; 5) acquiring resources. The developed programme will help psychologists in the security and defence sector of Ukraine to improve their own stress resistance, restore psychological health, and accumulate resources to prevent professional burnout.