Ukraine: ICITAP-EMPoWER Officer Wellness During Conflict Presentation by National Police of Ukraine Receives Standing Ovation at IADLEST Conference in Phoenix, AZ

On June 3, two female executive officers from the National Police of Ukraine (NPU) provided a workshop on Wellness and Mental Health during Conflict at the 2024 International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST) Conference in Phoenix, Arizona.  The workshop was moderated by EMPoWER’s Senior Law Enforcement Advisor, and an NPU Colonel and a Major shared their challenges, strategies and achievements that have been made with wellness and mental health during their current situation working in a war zone. Their presentation included detailed descriptions of their solutions, adaptations, and recovery strategies to deal with the aftermath of the full-scale invasion that has occurred in Ukraine. They described the total numbers of residential, heath care facilities and educational institutions destroyed. In addition, they discussed the human toll that the war has taken on the local population by listing the number of torture and sexual violence cases that have been investigated as well as the total number of Ukrainian citizens killed. Their presentation further discussed the factors resulting in trauma to police officers that included seeing missile attack sites, providing mental and first aid to citizens, and being the first responders to their fellow police officers who sustained injury or were killed in the line of duty. Furthermore, they highlighted the support that they are receiving from the leadership of the National Police of Ukraine to increase the mental health resilience by preventing exposure to traumatic experiences and preserving physical health. In addition, they elaborated on the benefits they received from a training course sponsored by the EMPoWER Program in 2023 held in Krakow, Poland. This training course purpose was to provide Ukrainian female police officers with a safe space and introduced them to a wellness support program that included a tool kit. The workshop was well attended by over 70 conference attendees and the presenters received a standing ovation. The workshop presentation reinforced one of the objectives of the EMPoWER Program to provide advanced professional training and assistance to partner governments.