Holding on through Chaos: Attachment and Trauma in Ukrainian Families in War-Time
with Dmytro Martsenkovskyi (Ukraine)
Facilitated by Lavinia Tanculescu (Romania)
🗓️ Day 6 of an 11-Day Seminar Series:Families in Context of War and Social Conflict: Through the Lens of Attachment
🌍 A Transformational Seminar Series for:
- Therapists
- Mental Health Professionals
- Humanitarian Workers
This powerful series explores how attachment theory provides insight into the impact of war, displacement, and social conflict on individuals and families.
✅ In This Session, You Will:
- Learn trauma-informed, attachment-based frameworks
- Build culturally sensitive tools for high-stress environments
- Understand the effects of displacement, violence, and instability on family dynamics
- Equip yourself to support resilience and connection in the face of crisis
🕒 Schedule:
- 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM: Lecture
- 11:45 AM – 12:00 PM: Break
- 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM: Facilitated Discussion Group
🎙️ About this lecture:
This presentation explores the complex interplay between parental and child mental health in Ukrainian families affected by war. Drawing on recent empirical data and clinical observations, it examines how prolonged exposure to violence, displacement, and family separation disrupts caregiving systems, undermines parental wellbeing, and impairs children’s emotional regulation and sense of security. The talk integrates psychological theory with data from large-scale national surveys to highlight patterns of trauma response and attachment disruption. Particular focus is given to the bidirectional transmission of distress within the parent–child dyad and the cumulative burden of war-related stressors. By combining statistical and clinical perspectives, the presentation underscores the need for attachment-informed, trauma-sensitive interventions. It advocates for scaling up family-centered mental health services in Ukraine and other humanitarian settings, emphasizing the importance of strengthening caregiver capacity as a protective buffer for children.
🎙️ About this speaker:
Dmytro Martsenkovskyi is an Assistant Professor at Bogomolets National Medical University in Ukraine and a Board Member of the Association of Child Psychiatry and Allied Professions of Ukraine. He works as an adult, child, and adolescent psychiatrist in the National Specialized Children’s Hospital «OHMADYT" liaison psychiatry service. His research focuses on the psychological consequences of military conflicts, the development and validation of mental health assessments, and the evaluation of both traditional and digital interventions for individuals affected by violence and displacement. His central research questions include how traumatic events influence young people’s mental health, the interplay between child and caregiver well-being, how to support parents and caregivers in crisis settings, and how to ensure that mental health services remain effective and accessible in war-affected regions.
🔗 Don’t Miss the Rest of the Series!
Check out our upcoming lectures in the series:👉 [www.ian-attachment.org.uk]
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