This project arose at the start of the war, in respect to immediate concerns and requests from trainee facilitators in Ukraine, and it will orient and contribute to supporting these facilitators’ contribution in the country for the longer term.

Boris and Neus have been deeply connected with the Ukraine Process Work Training over the past few years, particularly focusing on training and supervision in conflict resolution and facilitating the wisdom and vitality in community. Boris has also been in a coordinating role for the programme, and after the war broke out, he’s been asked by the trainees to step further into this role, coordinating activities and supporting local initiatives and leadership. He is also connected to colleagues from the Processwork programme in Russia, which had been managing and caring for the Ukraine training programme – this naturally calls for respect for limits and sensitive relationships of everyone involved, while caring for and facilitating the overall situation and all involved.

Since the war began, the Ukraine trainees have been organising daily meetings on Zoom, to come together among themselves, to check in, share practical and logistical information, and find emotional support during these traumatic and frightening times. Many of the Ukrainian trainees are professionals, usually in the role of caring for others, and so this support has been a lifeline for them.

The project has evolved from here – to coordinate the opportunity for the Ukraine trainee facilitators to gather for a 5 day retreat in August 2022, in a residential format. The retreat included facilitation training and support, in relation to processing polarisations and the impact of community-wide trauma. The retreat was also an opportunity for in-depth facilitated dialogue among the learning community gathered, to process how they are doing, their role as facilitators in the wider community, and directions forward. (Please see Reports and Articles.)

From here, the Ukraine project will continue by way of facilitating next steps and initiatives that arise out of these community interactions, as well as linking with a diversity of practitioners, and organisations in Ukraine.

Boris and Neus are Processwork facilitators and trainers, living in Spain / Catalunya. Boris is from Slovakia and his father lives in Ukraine. If possible, they intend to stay in the Ukraine, for some months, in order to support and facilitate next steps, within the local community, as is welcomed and useful.

Boris Sopko (Kosice, Slovakia, 1973)

I am originally clinical psychologist and psychotherapist with private practice registered in Slovakia. Over last decade I felt need to work on deep personal experiences also in group setting and this way address more systemic level of processes emerging as difficulties of individual people.

I work internationally (Spain, Slovakia, Greece, Ukraine, Russia), last 10 years based in Barcelona /Catalunya, Spain. Main focus of my work is being teacher, supervisor, mentor within Diploma trainings in process work. Field of the mental health and gender dynamics together with collective and transgenerational trauma are very close to my heart.

Neus Andreu Monsech (Barcelona, Catalunya, 1979). I have a Law degree from the University of Barcelona and I’ve been a Process Work Diplomate since 2018.

I co-founded the PW formal training in Spain/Catalunya in 2010.The program today has around 40 students. I also co-founded the organization Fil a l’algulla, SCCL in 2009. We started as 3, and we are at this moment 19 women. We offer services to schools, public administration, organizations, communities, individuals and couples to support processes of change and transformation, particularly when systems or people are in crisis. We are all trained in process work, feminism and restorative justice. We have become over the years a reference in Catalunya.

At this moment I’m the Director of Fil a l’agulla, I support other organizations in moments of change and facilitate processes of reparation connected with gender violence.

I have always been interested in the social transformation and particular in supporting individuals on dealing with traumatic events into creativity and new patterns that stop the wheel of violence. My final project in my PW studies was about how PW adds into Transitional Justice, I was particularly interested in how the unprocessed history between Catalunya and Spain was a key factor in the to understand the escalation that we lived between 2010 and the present moment, and how PW approach and tools can support sustainable peace.

Boris and Neus

We have been a team since 2012, soon after we started our partnership. As a team we have taught together six editions of an Annual Facilitation training in Worldwork and several seminars in PW training programs. We have also taught supervision seminars together. We have co-facilitated Open Forums in Morava and also in Barcelona devoted to processing the trauma of the Civil War and the Franco dictatorship. We have also taught about Collective Trauma in different PW programs and we have facilitated conflicts and tensions in different contexts.

Together we have 2 children that are also our trainers. They support us in our task of working to create a better future, and are an ongoing inspiration for us.