UKRAINIAN AND EUROPEAN PSYCHOTHERAPY ALLIANCE EIGHTH SYMPOSIUM

Our Eighth Symposium will take place amidst the profound levels of uncertainty which are deepening the crisis of the war in Ukraine. Uncertainty can be seen as a weapon of war because it has such a damaging psychological effect and easily saps energy, initiative and drive. Added to the uncertainty are mistruths which circulate globally through social media, and these include mistruths about how the war in Ukraine started. All of this threatens to undermine our humanity and our capacity to seek the common good for humanity.

And so our theme for the Eighth Symposium “In Search of Truth and Humanity in Our Time” is an absolutely vital one. Truth is so important and must always combat mistruths. Maintaining the integrity of our humanity is vital. I increasingly observe that through these Symposiums we are becoming very close to each other, and we are becoming a community and a voice upholding paramount principles through the strength of our togetherness. So let us in this Eighth Symposium work together to uphold Truth and Humanity, and in so doing give hope for the future to Ukrainians and to us all. We are delighted to be working closely with and supported by our Polish colleagues for this Symposium. Our heartfelt thanks especially to Ewa Dobiala for all her work with us. We are very honoured that the Patron for this Symposium will be Łukasz Műldner-Nieckowski, National Psychotherapy Consultant for Poland, and he will give short address at the start of the Symposium.

We are delighted to have very distinguished speakers at this Eighth Symposium. Jim Gordon who founded the Center for Body-Mind Medicine and was one of the first to travel to Poland after the full scale war in Ukraine began; Maria Marquardt who says of the extreme demands created by the war in Ukraine that in this situation “Psychotherapy is not a luxury – it is an act of humanity.”; Ewa Dobiala, Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist who has organised systematic support for therapists since the start of the war, and Geraldine O’Kelly Cooney who will share with us wisdom drawn from “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland. Anna Shyichuk is a former CEO of what was an important humanitarian project in Ukraine, until it had to be closed down due to the ending of US humanitarian aid. We are fortunate that she will give a presentation to us.

Our Seventh Symposium included for the first time a large therapy group for all the participants which was conducted by two senior Psychotherapists. In our Eighth Symposium we will again hold a large therapy group conducted by the same Psychotherapists and focused on the theme “In Search of Truth and Humanity.” We invite all participants to take part in this, and offer their thoughts and experiences connected with this important theme.

We cordially invite European Psychotherapists to join with Ukrainian Psychotherapists in this Eighth Symposium, as it is vital for our Ukrainian colleagues that they have the opportunity to be connected with, and in relationship with, colleagues from other European countries as they face their challenging lives in the present, and prepare for their future.

We welcome you!

Patricia Hunt FRSA

Chair of the Ukrainian and European Psychotherapy Alliance

Former President of the European Association for Psychotherapy

patricia.hunt@europsyche.org

REGISTRATION AND PARTICIPATION

Please fill in the registration form here if you wish to participate.

Please use this link to view all speakers (soon!).

Download the schedule: English | Ukrainian (soon!) | Polish (soon!).

The Symposium will be held on Friday June 13 2025 remotely on the "Zoom" platform. Please add it on your computer, smartphone, or tablet (https://zoom.us/download).

The Symposium will be held in Ukrainian, Polish and English, with simultaneous translation of presentations.

The event is free for psychotherapists. Registration is mandatory. Only registered participants will be able to participate in the Symposium.

Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions by text and voice, participate in Large therapy group and Small group discussions, communicate in a Round table discussion with their cameras and microphones turned on (if desired).

Certificates of attendance of 6 hours of professional development will be sent to all Symposium participants along with video recordings and lecture slides.

CONTACT US FOR ANY QUESTIONS

Write us in English or Ukrainian to info@uasymposium.online

• Call us from the European Union or if you want to speak English:

  00 370 686 96520

• Call us from Ukraine or if you want to speak Ukrainian:

  00 380 977 667526

VIDEO RECORDINGS OF ALL PREVIOUS SYMPOSIA

The First Symposium was held on February 23rd 2023 to mark the anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It was a moving, extraordinary, and wonderful event, and more than 1000 Psychotherapists registered to join it.

Please use this link to view the video recordings of the First Symposium.

The Second Symposium was held on June 16th 2023 and reached nearly 1500 registrations. The focus of the Second Symposium was the examination and discussion about the new challenges for psychotherapists in extreme situations and how the patients/clients are affected when the psychotherapist is in an exposed situation.

Please use this link to view the video recordings of the Second Symposium.

The Third Symposium was held on November 17th 2023 and reached nearly 700 participants. The event was extraordinary, the participants thanked each speaker, shared their emotions, and the round table discussion was very vibrant and special, probably could have continued for at least few more hours.

Please use this link to view the video recordings of the Third Symposium.

The Fourth Symposium was held on February 23rd 2024 and reached more than 600 participants from 31 countries. The theme for the Fourth Symposium, marking the second anniversary of the full-scale invasion, was “The Tragedy of Childhood in the Time of War.”

Please use this link to view the video recordings of the Fourth Symposium.

The Fifth Symposium, that was held on June 14th 2024, created extremely wide connections! More than 1200 delegates registered for the Symposium from Ukraine, from all over Europe, from the USA, Canada, South Africa, Thailand and Indonesia, and the Symposium was connected remotely with an important Democracy event taking place in Denmark. The Romanian Federation of Psychotherapy helped to host this Symposium. We are very thankful to their President Mara Priceputu and her senior colleagues for working closely with us, and for their generous collegial and financial support.

Please use this link to view the video recordings of the Fifth Symposium.

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The Sixth Symposium was held on November 15th 2024. The theme for the Fifth Symposium was “The Role of Women in the Time of War.” This Symposium included a Sociodrama (this part of the event was not recorded on video), which was conducted by two experts in the field of Sociodrama in Ukraine – Olena Stupak and Anastasia Sklyaruk. We are delighted to be joined and supported by the Danish Council for Psychotherapy for this Symposium.

Please use this link to view the video recordings of the Sixth Symposium.