On May 5th, 2011 ILDC had the training on Trauma- Part III with Marek Wnuk . The trainer comes from Poland. Several years ago he has started children’s center outside of Kiev, called “Sunshine” and is very familiar with the needs of Ukraine in this area. Periodically he comes to Ukraine to conduct various trainings in child welfare. We were fortunate to partner with him this past spring. There were total of 3 Modules of this training. The training was for social workers, foster and adoptive parents and trainers. We had 15 people that went through this training and had lots of good feed-back about the usefulness of this training for them. They especially appreciated such a great variety of practical exercises they now can use with children who they work with.
On May 12-13, 2011 there was a training that ILDC had on topic of «Art-therapy”. There were 32 participants that attended this 2 day training. This training was conducted by the very experienced and knowledgeable team of art-therapists, counselors, psychologists from US. This topic is of great interest in Ukraine among psychologists, counselors and social workers and we had a very large audience! The participants were especially grateful to get lots of practical skills, many new ideas for the counseling sessions and their direct work with children. There were lots of questions and a great desire to continue the training on the subject. New specialists and those with more experience have found lots of helpful information for the work they do in Ukraine.
On May 16-17, 2011 we had the same type of training on Art-therapy with the same group of trainers for a different group of participants. This time the training included the elements of Sand-tray therapy, which was a great introduction for many participants who have heard about this approach for the first time. The training was held outside of Kiev at the facilities of the organization called “Father’s House”. However, the participants have come from all over Ukraine to have a chance to attend this training. It was a great successes and everyone enjoyed it a lot! In spite of the fact that now it was second time offered, we got 27 participants to attend. Many have asked when we have next training on this subject and eagerly anticipating more training in this area!
On May 12-14 ILDC has conducted another training for the foster parents, which took place in Chernigov Region, Ukraine. There was a group of about 10 families present, who really needed more education on how to raise their foster children. The group had lots of good questions and appreciated practical ideas on how to understand and deal with difficult behavior of the children, most of whom have experienced complex trauma in their early childhood. This training was held for 3 days and was conducted by our Ukrainian trainer- Vika Myelnichenko.
On May 24-26 ILDC has conducted 3 day training in Poltava, Ukraine for the group of social workers. The topic was «Assessment in family-oriented approach». There were 14 social workers that participated from the local social service. There was a great interest to see video materials and practical exercises that participants got to do throughout the training. Everyone got more familiar with the process of doing assessment and all the different stages in order to effectively identify the situation in the family. Participants have practiced how to record only facts vs. their subjective opinion of the situation of the family. The group was very motivated and interested.
On the 14-16 of June, 2011 ILDC has sent a trainer to Zaporozhie, Ukraine for 3 days to do the training on «Сase-planning in family oriented approach». This is Module 5 of our core training for social workers. There were 26 participants from various social services in the region of Zaporozhie. The participants had a wide range of experience in the field, ranging from 10 days up to 13 years. Everyone has been learning lots of new information in the area of work they do, whether new social workers or those that have more experience. The participants have gained a deep understanding of the importance of planning in the area of child welfare, the benefits of planning and their responsibilities in planning. They also have learned the practical steps to effective case planning. It was a motivated group that has showed great interest to learn as much as possible!
On the June 13-14th, 2011 Lynn and Ruby Johnston have continued with the series in leadership in Kiev. This time it was module 3 for the group of 12 people, which have started going through this course in early spring. This group is all leaders, managers, directors and supervisors that are committed to continually grow in their leadership skills as they supervise people in various organizations all over Ukraine in child welfare organizations. Each time this group has lots of great questions and is very enthusiastic about learning and applying effective skills in being managers!
On the June 29- July 1st, 2011 there was training for the foster families in the city Smyela in Cherkassi Region, Ukraine. There were 10 foster and guardian families that went through this training. This was quite a big and important event for the city and the local TV put it on their news. This was the first training ILDC has done in this city and they are already requesting more trainings from ILDC and are very interested in further partnership.
On July 29, 2011 our Ukrainian trainer, specialist in adoption and manager of “Adopt Ukraine” project has conducted the training for the foster and adoptive parents on the topic of “Telling the Truth to your adoptive or foster child”. This is a one day seminar. The training is based on the book by Jayne Schooler and Betsy Keefer that is now available in Russian too. More and more regions of Ukraine now learn about this book and it is of great interest to a large audience. ILDC has more new requests to have this topic be presented in other parts of Ukraine.
