Training Session “Resilience Through Care: Emotionally Literate Interaction”

At the end of a challenging year, we brought together professionals from cultural and educational institutions to create a space for slowing down, recovery, and honest conversation about emotions, fatigue, interaction, and inner resilience. Participants — administrators, coordinators, and specialists from cultural and educational organisations; people who work daily with visitors, teams, veterans, and internally displaced persons — had the opportunity over two days to focus on themselves and their professional challenges.

The training focused on developing emotional awareness, preventing burnout, and practising nonviolent communication. We spoke about culture as a space of support rather than competition, and about self-care as the foundation of caring for others.

As part of the programme, participants:

• explored their own emotional processes, triggers, and sources of exhaustion;
• worked with practical tools for restoring inner balance;
• developed skills of empathetic and respectful communication;
• became familiar with models of emotional literacy, including Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions and nonviolent communication approaches;
• fostered an environment of trust and support with the potential to grow into further professional collaboration.

The training was delivered by Zoriana Borbulevych, a trainer and facilitator with over 20 years of international experience in communication, team interaction, and people management, and Mariia Oliinyk, a psychotherapist and trainer of resilience and human-centred leadership programmes, working at the intersection of psychology and organisational development.

The training was held in line with UNESCO’s strategic vision of culture as a driving force for peace and resilience and became another step toward shaping cultural institutions as safe, humane, and supportive spaces.

We thank all participants for their openness, attentiveness to one another, and willingness to care — for themselves, their communities, and culture.
May these two days become a source of support and strength on the way into the new year 💛

The project was implemented by the Lviv Culture Hub, UNESCO, and the Mind Force agency with the financial support of AECID.

📷: UNESCO / Bohdan Yemets

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