IJSP Number 6, 2024

108 supposed to interpret everything that is said in groups adds considerably to the time it takes to express everyone’s contributions, and the presence of an interpreter along with the group leader impacts the group dynamic such that the members' defensive structures will be affected. 3. THE TRAUMA OF THE WAR IN UKRAINE Lysnyk [10] discussed how all Ukrainians have experienced grief and uncertainty about the future since the Russian invasion began. She makes the point that Ukrainian mental health workers are experiencing the trauma of the war at the same time that many people are seeking psychological help. She offered support groups and concluded that “the most effective support is provided by the sincere interpersonal relationships between group members, which facilitators maintain.” That is, the shared traumatic reality of living in war conditions gives facilitators a deeper understanding of what participants feel. This is accepted by participants and increases the therapeutic effect of the group. She believes that it is also helpful to offer psychological techniques, such as breathing, bodily practices, and focusing, as practical ways of coping with stressful events. Seleznova et.al. [11] discuss how the war is having a lasting impact on the mental health of the Ukrainian people and has exposed weaknesses in the national healthcare system. They call for joint efforts between mental health stakeholders and international governmental and non-governmental organizations to provide support for mental health services in Ukraine. Yevlanova [12] discussed providing supervision to a group of Ukrainian mental health workers. This “Wartime Research” project amended the typical weekly or biweekly supervision meetings and instituted a daily supervision group. There was an acknowledgment that both patients and the therapists themselves are affected by trauma. The daily meetings served multiple functions including serving the mental health needs of the therapists, and providing crisis and supportive therapy as well. The group for interpreters under discussion here, though meeting virtually and biweekly, instituted a similar broad approach to the needs of the members. In addition to peer supervision function which the group leader facilitated, members offered each other support first about their role as translators, clinical supervision issues, and several other professional and personal issues. They even offered therapeutic interventions to each other, around the trauma of the war and the difficulty of their work, and on personal issues that sometimes were not related to the war. Many of the members were comfortable with addressing group dynamics as they emerged, and space was given to process that as well. Under the extreme conditions of wartime, members were given the latitude to request whatever help they needed on a given day. It is the opinion of the authors that this also enabled