Social Work Voices from Ukraine

Professor Oksana Boyko starts the series of social work voices from Ukraine. As the war continues, she shares her understandably strong feelings and begins the reflection on the activity of social work in the middle of this invasion. This recording is of an interview with her,led by Professor Tan Ngoh Tiong, Chair of the Global Institute for Social Work and professor of Social Work at Singapore University and I was asked to join in and agreed to publish this audio as a podcast.

Currently Oksana is also Associate Professor, Head of BA in SW Program, Chair of the Department School of Social Work named after Professor Volodymyr Poltavets at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA), in Kyiv, Ukraine. As well as having a distinguished academic career, she has had around twenty years of expertise working in various national and international projects on mental health and psychosocial support, community crisis management, social entrepreneurship, international social work. She is also a member of MHPSS Technical Working Group in Ukraine.

Oksana has also been for the second year a Project Local Expert and Crisis Management trainer working for an International Project ‘Enhancing community resilience in Ukraine. Psychosocial first aid, support and anti crisis leadership’, supported by Norway Ministry for Foreign Affairs, implemented by NaUKMA and Norwegian Centre for Trauma and Suicide Prevention. Outcomes include: training to become a lead trainer on crisis management, as well as conducting crisis management trainings for various stakeholders and developing the Crisis Management Course syllabus and methodological guidelines for NaUKMA Introducing the course into NaUKMA education programs (for social workers and psychologists).

Hopefully more social work voices from Ukraine can be heard in the weeks to come. There is no denying the bravery of ordinary people caught in this madness. As usual in war, the damage will last for decades , if not longer.