Participation of the Department of Psychology in the All-Ukrainian Forum with International Participation “Meaning as a Resource in Wartime: A Logotherapeutic Perspective”

The All-Ukrainian forum with international participation “Meaning as a Resource in Wartime: A Logotherapeutic Perspective” was held on September 9 at the base of our university’s partners – King Danylo University (Ivano-Frankivsk) with a parallel online broadcast on the ZOOM platform. The organizers of the event are the Higher Education Institution “King Danylo University”, the National University “Zaporizhzhya Polytechnic”, the Kryvyi Rih State Pedagogical University, the National University “Odesa Law Academy”, the Poltava National Pedagogical University named after V. G. Korolenko, the NGO “National Association of Logotherapists of Ukraine”, the dynamic logotherapy space MeaningsLab.

The goal of the forum was to summarize modern developments in logotherapy and their adaptation to the war and post-war context of Ukraine, to disseminate practical tools for supporting the meaning of life and mental resilience of Ukrainians in war and post-war realities, to create an environment for professional interaction, and to ensure effective exchange of experience between scientists, students and practitioners.

The main areas of the forum’s work:

• logotherapy and existential analysis of Viktor Frankl: a modern rethinking
• search for meaning as a resource for mental health and resilience in wartime realities
• practical application of logotherapy for losses, combat trauma and PTSD (military, IDPs, civilians)
• logotherapeutic educational initiatives and public projects: support for children, youth and local communities during the war
• logotherapeutic methods of preventing burnout and supporting professionals in supporting professions

The forum program included a plenary session, the work of two sections, as well as a series of workshops and practicums. The participants of the event were foreign and Ukrainian logotherapists, psychologists, professors, and doctors of psychological sciences.

The international speakers of the event were invited logotherapists Timo Purjo (PhD, certified specialist in logotherapy, accredited member of the International Association of Logotherapy and Existential Analysis, founder and head of the Viktor Frankl Institute in Finland, private practice logotherapist and international logotherapy trainer (Finland)) and  Vedrana Grgic (accredited speech therapist, assistant to Professor Timo Purjo, Croatia).

From the Ukrainian side, the speakers of the event were both professional practitioners, psychologists and psychotherapists, speech therapists and speech consultants (Nataliya Khmeleva, Natalia Chabanyuk, Antonina Kozak, Oksana Ruda, Rimma Myrna, Olena Ronzhes, Kateryna Gayova, Yevheniya Ivlieva, Olga Atamanyuk, Iryna Podavilnikova, Marta Hrynko, Tetyana Kryl, Natalia Chorna and others), as well as practicing scientists who develop the ideas of speech therapy in Ukraine: Svitlana Yalanska (Doctor of Psychological Sciences, Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Psychology and Social Work, Professor of the Department of Crisis Psychology of the V. G. Korolenko Poltava National Pedagogical University); Olena Khalik (Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Acting Head of the Department of Psychology of the Higher Educational Institution “King Danylo University”, Associate Professor of the Department of General and Age Psychology of the Kyiv Polytechnic University); Olga Litvinova (Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Psychology, Pedagogy and Philosophy of the Kremenchuk Mykhailo Ostrohradsky National University), Oleksandra Pytlyuk-Smerechynska (Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Psychology of the Higher Educational Institution “King Danylo University”); Olga Samara (Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Psychology of the National University “Odessa Law Academy”) and others.

The Department of Psychology of the Zaporizhia Polytechnic National University was one of the co-organizers and active participants of the forum. Thus, the moderator of the event was Professor of our Department of Psychology, Doctor of Psychological Sciences Natalia Savelyuk, who also delivered a report at the plenary session on the topic: “Psychological Well-being as Personal Meaning: Dynamics of the Experience of Ukrainianness during Martial Law”. Iryna Burlakova (Professor, Doctor of Psychological Sciences, Professor of the Department of Psychology) presented a report at the plenary session on the topic: “Existential Anxiety as a Point of Support in Wartime”.  Margarita Starchenko (second-year master’s student, group SNz–114m) presented a report on the topic: “Approaching Values ​​and Meaning as a Path to Resilience”. Tetyana Borodulkina (Associate Professor, Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Psychology) conducted a workshop for the forum participants on the topic “Steps from the Mental to the Spiritual in Any Life Situation (workshop based on a modification of Timo Purjo’s self-distancing exercise)”.

The event became a platform for systematizing and adapting logotherapeutic ideas  and practices to Ukrainian realities, and covered more than 150 participants in a mixed format. Among the forum participants were representatives of the Department of Special Education and the Department of Philosophy of our university. From our Department of Psychology, undergraduate and graduate students of all courses, full-time and part-time forms of study, and graduates of the department from previous years actively participated in the work of the forum.

A lot was said about meanings, about the development of diagnostic material, about the experience  use of logotherapy tools in working with civilians and military personnel, participated in master classes and workshops!

The results of the event will be used to create an electronic collection of abstracts of the participants.

The Department of Psychology sincerely thanks the main organizers and inspirers of the forum – Olena Khalyk (psychologist, candidate of psychological sciences, specialist in systemic family psychotherapy, acting head of the psychology department of the Higher Educational Institution “King Danylo University”, associate professor of the department of general and age psychology of the Kyiv State University of Psychology) and Natalia Khmelova (accredited logotherapist, psychologist, co-founder and president of the NGO “National Association of Logotherapists of Ukraine” and co-founder of the NGO “Ukrainian Association of Logotherapy and existential analysis”, organizer and head trainer of the educational space “MeaningsLab dynamic space of V. Frankl’s logotherapy) — for the invitation! We thank our colleagues and all participants for the resourceful professional space!