Blue Haven for Ukraine: conference on canine-assisted therapy and psycho-emotional support takes place in Truskavets

Last week, in the framework of the ‘Blue Haven for Ukraine’ project, Truskavets hosted a conference on ‘Current issues of engaging service dogs to provide psycho-emotional support to police officers and other people affected by Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine’. 

The ‘Blue Haven for Ukraine’ is an initiative implemented by the EU Advisory Mission to Ukraine (EUAM Ukraine), aiming to create a network of safe, supportive spaces designed to help law enforcement officers, veterans, and their families regain stability and process trauma.

The event in Truskavets aimed to present the outcomes of a pilot project on introducing canine units into psycho-emotional support programmes for police officers and their families. Both Ukrainian and international experts shared their experience, research findings, and practical approaches to using canine-assisted therapy to restore mental health and physical well-being.

“What unites all of us here is the firm understanding that mental health is not an add-on to operational readiness — it is its backbone. In a context of ongoing aggression, persistent risk, and sustained pressure on your defenders and emergency responders, investing in psychological resilience is an urgent responsibility and a shared commitment,” said Daina Toleikayte, EUAM Project Management Officer.

Over the course of the three-day event, which combined theory and practice – K9 experts, dog handlers, cynologists and psychologists led presentations, training sessions and gave workshops, demonstrating practical methods of using service dogs in physical rehabilitation and emotional support.

The experts also discussed the prospects of broader implementation of canine-assisted therapy in Ukraine.

“Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the staff of the Canine Centre of the Kyiv Regional Police have taken on a social responsibility – providing emotional support to people who have experienced the horrors of war. Although our practice is still relatively new, the work of canine specialists and their four-legged partners has laid the foundation for involving service dogs in the rehabilitation of veterans and their families,” said Maksym Pishchanskyi, Head of the Kyiv Region Police Canine Centre.

Pishchanskyi added that the new practice has already shown positive results, allowing the centre to consider involving K9 specialists and their service dogs in the rehabilitation process not only in the Kyiv region but across all regions of Ukraine. 

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Press release