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#PeerLearning for education, social work, and health professionals
Psychological first aid in support of children
Share experience with fellow professionals to better support children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.
Enroll now for the next cohort
You will receive upcoming dates and information to earn certification in the next Peer Learning Exercise. Â
We first request your permission to send you email. Please look for this e-mail in your inbox and click on the secure link it contains.
3 top reasons to join
1. Learn by sharing experience.
2. Get fresh ideas to help you better support children.
3. Earn certification to validate your experience.
Who is this for?
Anyone involved in supporting children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, including:
- National Red Cross staff and volunteers
- Teachers, teachersâ assistants, and other education professionals
- Social work professionals
- Health professionals
You do not need to be affiliated with your countryâs Red Cross to join.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONSâI gained deeper understanding of childrenâs reactions to stress and crisis situations, and effective approaches to help. As a professional, such a program strengthens rapid response skills.â
â A participant in the Peer Learning Exercise
What is Psychological First Aid (PFA)?
Psychological First Aid (PFA) provides emotional and practical support to individuals, families, or communities who are having difficulty coping.
It is about establishing a connection with people in a compassionate non-judgmental manner to bring calm and comfort.
It also helps to reduce stigma associated with mental health crises and can reduce negative health outcomes through general public and community building strategies on self-care and promoting conversations about wellness.Â
How does PFA support children?
PFA for children may entail:
- comforting children and caregivers in distress and helping them feel safe and calm;
- assessing needs and concerns;
- protecting children from harm;
- providing emotional support;
- helping to address immediate basic needs (e.g. food, water, a blanket or shelter);
- listening to children and caregivers without pressuring them to talk; and
- helping children and caregivers access information, services and social support.
Source: IFRC Reference Centre for Psychosocial Support
Are you new to Psychological First Aid (PFA) for children?
- You will be encouraged to complete a 20-minute rapid learning module before you start sharing your experience with supporting children â and to explore how PFA resources can help.
- You will quickly gain the foundational skills to start incorporating PFA into your work with children.
- Connecting with experienced practitioners will provide ongoing guidance as you apply and adapt PFA to your context.
Have you already practiced PFA for children?
- By reflecting on your experiences and engaging with others, you will gain fresh perspectives to enhance your practice.
- Your insights will be invaluable in supporting less experienced peers and strengthening the overall crisis response for children.
Are you a mental health professional?
- Your expertise can enrich our peer learning community.
- While this program is not a substitute for professional training, it offers a space to gain insight into diverse perspectives, share knowledge to empower others, and collaborate on bridging PFA with specialized care.
âI understood that if we want to cry, we can cry, and we donât need to appear strong every time.â
â A participant in the peer learning exercise
How will you learn?
- Facilitation by learning specialists, with feedback from both peers and experts.
- Most learning activities can be completed offline.
- Participation will require use of digital platforms, including email, Telegram, Zoom, and web.
- Participants need to have access to a reliable Internet connection for live sessions, to connect with other learners, to submit assignments, and for peer review.
What you need to know
- Languages: English and Ukrainian as main languages, with option for groups in other languages.
- Certification: Participants can earn certification from TGLF and IFRC.
- Cost and travel for participants: no cost, no travel.
- Learning resources: IFRC Psychosocial Centre and Red Cross reference material will be used and complemented by other validated resources, as well as participant experiences.
- Relevance for diverse practitioners: All practitioners in contact with affected children may need to respond to psychological support needs. Peer learning is also relevant if you are very experienced.
Our commitments
In order to participate, we will ask you to honor the following commitments.
1. Child safeguarding
You will be asked to confirm your agreement to child safeguarding principles in line with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), the principles and values of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and the European Union (EU).
2. Confidentiality and safety
We trust each other in order to share and learn together.
Some participants may have legitimate concerns for their confidentiality or safety.
We will ask you to commit to respecting confidentiality. This means that you will not name individuals, organizations, or countries when sharing information.
3. Professional duties and obligations
You will also be required to fully respect and abide by any regulations, restrictions, and other requirements of your employer or government.
Code of Conduct
Participants in the Foundationâs programmes are required to adhere to a strict Code of Conduct.
Violation of the Code of Conduct may result in removal from the programme, loss of certification (including previous certifications), and notification of your employer.
We consider integrity to be the foundation of successful collaboration. We therefore consider honesty - in the representation of our work and in our interactions - to be the foundation of our community.
Members of our community of Scholars are required to commit to producing work that meets the highest ethical, scientific, and intellectual standards, including accurate attribution of sources, appropriate collection and use of data, and transparent acknowledgement of the contributions of others to their ideas, discoveries, interpretations, and conclusions.
Cheating on work or projects, plagiarizing or presenting someone elseâs ideas or language as oneâs own, falsifying data, or any other instances of dishonesty violate the norms of our community.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can peer learning help me?
Will there be certification?
How can I join this program?
How will applicants be selected?
Can I participate in my own language?
Do I need to have formal training in Psychological First Aid (PFA) or qualifications in mental health to participate?
Why do we need another training on Psychological First Aid (PFA)?
What is different about the Geneva Learning Foundationâs peer learning-to-action approach?
Learning is about problem-solving and critical thinking â not just knowledge.
- Discover how much you can learn from your peers by giving and receiving feedback in many different ways.
- Learn to trust and support colleagues â and discover that this can greatly strengthen your own learning.
- Challenge your assumptions about how you learn in order to succeed.
You may be skeptical about how much you can learn from other participants â given that you do not know their expertise or experience.
We ask that you trust the process â and expect to initially find yourself outside your comfort zone until you have experienced a moment of significant learning.
About this project
In May 2022, with the support of the European Commissionâs Directorate General For Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE), the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), with the Ukrainian Red Cross and 27 other European Red Cross Societies, launched the project âProvision of quality and timely psychological first aid to people affected by Ukraine crisis in impacted countriesâ supported by the EU4Health programme.
Funded by the EUâs EU4Health programme, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is collaborating with The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) to provide online peer learning opportunities.

About the IFRC
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the worldâs largest humanitarian network. Our secretariat supports local Red Cross and Red Crescent action in more than 191 countries, bringing together more than 16 million volunteers for the good of humanity.
This project is funded by the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of TGLF and IFRC, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.