A Two-Day Training on Trauma-Informed Education for Educators from Across Ukraine Took Place in Kyiv

The event brought together professionals from five regions of Ukraine – Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Sumy regions. These are practitioners who work daily with children in conditions of ongoing stress and instability caused by the war, and who require not only theoretical knowledge but also effective tools to support their students

An important part of the training was working with the Pure Edge approach – an evidence-based methodology developed on the basis of research from Stanford University. The Gen team has begun implementing it in Ukrainian schools as a practical tool to support both children and educators. Participants also deepened their understanding of how stress affects a child’s brain, behavior, learning ability, and interaction. Particular attention was given to neurobiological processes – the responses of the nervous system and how they manifest in the school environment.

In addition to the theoretical component, participants practiced specific self-regulation techniques that can be directly integrated into the learning process without adding extra workload for educators. These are short exercises lasting from 1 to 5 minutes, which can be easily used at the beginning or end of a lesson. They require no special equipment and can be adapted to both online and offline formats. At the same time, they help students reduce stress, improve concentration, and better understand their emotional state.

The training also became a space for experience exchange among educators from different regions. Participants discussed the challenges they face in their daily work: emotional exhaustion, complex behavioral responses in children, and the lack of psychological support resources in schools. Such exchange allows not only to voice these challenges, but also to find practical solutions that are already working in communities.

Trauma-Informed School is a project of the Gen.Hope Center of Excellence, aimed at transforming the school environment by taking into account the impact of war-related trauma on both children and educators. Its goal is not only to respond to crisis situations, but also to build a culture of care, mutual support, and psychological safety within the educational environment. Above all, it seeks to integrate psychological support into everyday educational practice and help schools address challenges at a systemic level.

The training became one of the first steps toward the systemic implementation of a trauma-informed approach in Ukrainian schools – an approach that helps not only to educate, but also to support, stabilize, and restore.