Note: The following post was prepared by the American Psychological Association.

In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the American Psychological Association (APA) has taken concerted actions to lend support to the Ukrainian people and others struggling in the region.  APA has offered support to our Ukrainian colleagues, engaged in organizational collaboration to assist clinicians and scholars and those whom they serve, and provided direct and indirect evidence-based resources and training materials.                   

Offering Support to Ukrainian Colleagues

APA Policy Adoption.  On February 25, APA’s governing Council of Representatives adopted a motion in solidarity with the National Psychological Association of Ukraine (NPAU), the Ukrainian people, and colleagues in the Eastern European region.  The motion reaffirmed APA’s commitment to human rights and the health and well-being of all people and deplored the “human cost of such aggression” in the wake of the invasion.

Letters of Support.  APA President Frank C. Worrell, PhD, and CEO Arthur C. Evans, Jr., PhD, sent a letter of support on behalf of the association to NPAU leadership expressing serious concern about the “immense anxiety, stress, and trauma” associated with the conflict and the plight of our colleagues and others in the region.  The letter included links to key APA resources related to coping with stress and trauma, uncertainty, and building resilience.  APA has a Memorandum of Understanding with NPAU and a strong and longstanding partnership with them.  APA also joined with the Global Psychology Alliance in sending a letter of support to the NPAU leadership from the global psychology community.

Financial Assistance. APA provided financial support to NPAU to help fund a 24/7 crisis hotline to be staffed by trauma-informed Ukrainian psychologists, who will receive modest compensation for their time.  So far, 50 psychologists have been identified to begin answering crisis calls; prior donations have helped to install the IT infrastructure for this service.  APA’s contribution will help to provide direct mental health service support.

Organizational Collaboration

Statement for United Nations (UN) Community.  APA’s team of psychologists at the UN prepared a statement on the importance of incorporating psychological science and practice in addressing the effects of war on children.  This has been disseminated widely to the UN community by the Global NGO Executive Committee through an emailed announcement.

Psychological Services Support.  APA’s organizational collaboration includes promotion of the UN’s International Organization for Migration search for psychologists to respond to calls on their Mental Health and Psychosocial Support hotline and efforts to connect humanitarian workers to existing support services in the field.  APA also cosigned a letter with other organizations to the U.S. Secretary of State and to the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development to urge the integration of mental health and substance use services into the U.S. relief efforts to address the acute mental health and substance use needs caused and exacerbated by the invasion of Ukraine.

Applied Educational Support.  Upon the request of our Ukrainian university colleagues, APA recorded the first two videos in a series of training tools for mental health clinicians seeking skill development in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.  These videos are being translated into Ukrainian and shared with university trainers and the NPAU leadership to further their efforts to prepare clinicians for trauma intervention with children and adolescents.

Support for Scholars and Practitioners.  In reference to work with university-focused systems, APA partners with the organization Scholars at Risk.  Information about their ongoing efforts can be seen at the following links: In Solidarity with Ukraine and Resources for At-Risk Individuals from Ukraine.  APA has also helped to identify psychologists who speak Ukrainian and can serve in a range of supportive roles.

Informational Resource Support

Support for Ukrainian Colleagues.  APA has provided resource assistance at the direct request of our NPAU colleagues. This has included resources, tip sheets, and strategies related to psychological service delivery for military families with a focus on children, acute stress, and trauma (with the assistance of APA’s Division 19 – Society for Military Psychology), to identification of psychologists who can support translation efforts (with the assistance of Division 52 – International Psychology), to provision of trainings on short-term trauma interventions.

Support for Colleagues in Surrounding Regions.  APA met virtually with our colleagues from the Polish Psychological Association and has assembled informational materials to help with their current challenges, including managing the stress associated with an overwhelming influx of over one million Ukrainian refugees, some discrimination against Ukrainians, multicultural education, and human trafficking. 

Public Information.  APA released its latest “Stress in America” survey, which showed that 84% of U.S. adults agreed that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been terrifying to watch.  Moreover, 69% of adults reported being worried that the invasion could lead to nuclear war.  APA shared three different articles with information for the general public about how to handle the trauma of war from afar whether or not you have relatives or friends there, how to talk to kids about the war, and how to understand psychological warfare, such as what is happening now in Ukraine.