The “Grief Support: Contemporary Approaches to Care and Support” training program consists of two levels — Basic and Professional — and was developed to strengthen the professional community in Ukraine and build a network of professionals capable of providing high-quality psychosocial support to individuals experiencing loss. Both programs were developed by certified grief educators Dr.Svitlana Kominko and Dr.Natalie Smakhtina.
Target audience: Veteran support workers, educators, healthcare professionals, chaplains, HR managers, veterans, and anyone seeking to strengthen their understanding of grief and loss in order to support people within their communities, organizations, or teams.
Course duration: 24 hours of theory and practice + 4 hours of group work
Course focus: Foundational understanding of the grief process; the ethics of presence when accompanying a person in grief; the impact of grief on the family system; non-death-related losses; disenfranchised grief; integrating grief into life; understanding complex loss; and developing skills to facilitate peer support groups and strengthen community-based support.
Target audience: Psychologists, counsellors, and psychotherapists providing psychological support and counselling to individuals who have experienced loss due to war, captivity, occupation, suicide, illness, accidents, or other causes, and who wish to deepen their professional competence in grief and bereavement support.
Course duration: 36 hours of theory and practice + 16 hours of supervision
Course focus: A solid theoretical foundation combined with practical skill development focused on addressing the psychological impact of war. Topics include models of grief and bereavement; concepts of death; grieving as a unique, transformative process; the ethics of accompanying a person in grief; family dynamics of loss; disenfranchised grief; suicide bereavement; complicated grief; non-death-related losses; grief integration and meaning reconstruction; the role of community and support groups; and professional support and guidance during supervision sessions.
Target audience: Child psychologists, counsellors, and psychotherapists providing psychological support and counselling to children and families who have experienced loss due to war, captivity, occupation, suicide, illness, accidents, or other causes, and who wish to deepen their professional competence in grief and bereavement support.
Course duration: 12 hours of theory and practice + 6 hours of supervision
Course focus: This training provides a practical and theory-informed framework for professionals working with children who have experienced loss, particularly in the context of war and forced displacement. Participants begin by establishing principles of psychological safety and creating a supportive space for grief work. The program then introduces both classical and contemporary models of grief, with special attention to traumatic grief in children. The training examines developmental aspects of children’s grief, including how children understand death at different ages and how grief may appear through behavior and somatic reactions. Special focus is placed on children’s core needs during grief, practical for both individual and group work with children.
In 2025–2026, 400+ specialists and support practitioners from across Ukraine were trained to provide ongoing grief support and counselling.
The 2025–2026 training programs were delivered in partnership with the International Institute of Postgraduate Education and the Ukrainian Institute of Traumatherapy, with financial support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Norad), DanChurchAid, and Norwegian Church Aid in Ukraine and other partner organisations.
I am very grateful for the opportunity to gain both theoretical and practical knowledge. My deep gratitude for the organization and further development of this space. I used to perceive loss as death. But now I understand that this course is about life. Thank you sincerely!
Taisiia Dovhusha
Military Psychologist
This is one of the best courses I have ever taken. It helped me during my time of loss, brought people together, gave me the opportunity to express myself, receive support, and give my own. This is very valuable! The knowledge and the program that was shared gave me the dream to help others with the same needs and to open my own community support center for grievers in my city.
Iryna Vyhovska
Crisis Intervention Counsellor
I work as a specialist supporting veterans and demobilized individuals, which is why this course was highly relevant to me. I gained immense value that exceeded my expectations. As someone who has experienced personal losses in life, I was looking not just for theoretical knowledge, but for practical tools to understand and manage emotions. This course became not only a source of information, but also a catalyst for inner change, helping me to reframe my experience of grief and give it meaning. Its overall value lay in the combination of a scientific approach (psychology) with practical exercises, which allowed me to feel more resilient and more empathetic — not only toward myself, but also toward those around me.
Tetiana Mandziuk
Veteran Support Worker “Veteran PRO”
I have completed training in grief support — 240 hours of deep work, learning, silence, meaning, and great responsibility. I first learned about this program in Canada, where we were with the Invictus Games Team Ukraine. It was not just a course — it was a journey into the most vulnerable spaces of personal and human pain: loss, farewell, and learning to live with what cannot be “fixed,” but where one can remain present. I entered this training with the understanding that I am increasingly working with people for whom grief has become part of life — veterans, families of the fallen and the missing, and those who have lost their homes, their health, and their sense of safety. I am leaving with even greater respect for human strength and with a clear understanding that support is not words — it is presence, knowledge, and inner resilience. I am grateful to the International Institute of Postgraduate Education, to the instructors Svitlana Kominko and Natalie Smakhtina, and to my colleagues for their professional depth, honesty, and humanity. I am grateful to myself — for the courage to look into what is difficult and not turn away. This is an ending — and at the same time, the beginning of a new level of service to people, with faith that even in grief, life remains possible.
Tetiana Huranska
Psychologist, Head of the “Veteran PRO” Center