GROUP WORKSHOP
Psychotherapy for Transgenerational Trauma 3.0
On the awareness and treatment of traumatic family patterns that have intensified during the war.
On choice
Intergenerational patterns exist in the shadows—in unspoken losses, in the silence surrounding family secrets, in recurring patterns of behavior and roles, in dramatic relationships, and in physical symptoms. Exploring these contours helps us realize where there is a solid foundation in a person’s personal history, and where there is a knot that needs to be untangled. We cannot change the past, but we can change our attitudes and the rules by which we live—so as not to pass on to our children what we ourselves did not want to inherit. In childhood, we did not always have a choice. Now we do.
8 sessions
A step-by-step approach: from diagnosis through processing and reintegration to testimony and memorial rituals.
3 hours a week
Classes are held on Fridays from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. (Kyiv time). Online.
5 Steps to Follow
Each subsequent step builds on the previous one. To skip a step is to build on sand.
Hello. My name is Tetiana Stanislavska. I am a clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst, and doctoral student at KISPP—and the founder of the Institute for War-Related Psychological Trauma.
Transgenerational trauma is the focus of my dissertation and my practice. I developed a Ukrainian adaptation of the HITT-Q questionnaire and the LCHL model—“Landscape–Boat–Human”—as a clinical framework for interpreting the intergenerational transmission of trauma.
The first two iterations of the course helped me understand where the program needs even more clinical depth. Iteration 3 is a version of the course that has already been tested with a real group twice.
I know where it will be challenging. But I also know where the breakthroughs will happen.
For psychologists, psychotherapists, and counselors who wish to explore their own family history from an ecological perspective, its impact during wartime, and methods for addressing family trauma in private practice.
This course can wait if you are currently going through a serious personal crisis or a difficult emotional state—it’s important to get yourself back on track first.
Step 1.
Diagnostics
First, we need to understand the system. What has been passed down, from whom, and how—at the level of historical context, the family system, and the descendant themselves.
We work with HITT-Q and the LCL model, using criteria for readiness to proceed. We determine when to delve deeper and when to stop.
Step 2.
Processing and Disconnection
Detachment is not a rejection of family. It is returning what does not belong to you—with gratitude and respect. And gaining the right to live differently.
We’ll explore two types of grief in TGT: personal and familial—and why they’re so often confused. We’ll master the techniques of detachment.
Detachment without loyalty is amputation. Detachment with loyalty is liberation.
Step 3.
Reintegration
Rebuilding oneself. Integrating experiences—both our own and those inherited—into a coherent memory, where the past remains in the past.
We’ll explore Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) and the Lifeline, a narrative approach, and schema therapy within the context of TGT. Separately—the somatic dimension: how transgenerational trauma lives in the body and what to do about it.
Step 4.
Testimony
“Trauma needs a witness to become the past.” — Dorit Laub, psychoanalyst.
Three levels of witnessing in TGT: the therapist as a witness to the client, the client as a witness to the ancestor, and witnessing for future generations. Clinical practice: what this looks like in a session, what the risks are, and how not to confuse witnessing with catharsis.
Step 5.
Rituals of Remembrance
Rituals of remembrance do not erase transgenerational trauma. They transform its unconscious transmission into conscious preservation.
The difference between “forgetting” and “remembering so as not to carry on the burden” is significant. Rituals of commemoration, remembrance, and objects are clinical tools, not folklore.
Concluding the course: personal reflections, next steps.
What will be the outcome of the course?
After eight sessions, you’ll have more than just a set of tools.
You’ll be able to gather diagnostic information in a way that allows you to see the bigger picture—rather than just an individual client with unclear symptoms. You’ll know the difference between detachment and disengagement—and you won’t push a client into a place they’re not yet ready for. You’ll be able to facilitate both types of grief work—individual and family—and distinguish between them in the process. You’ll understand what testimony is as a clinical act and won’t confuse it with “just a story”.
And most importantly—you’ll have your own stance on this topic. An understanding of the method’s limits. Knowing where your competence ends and where you need to stop.
Profound transformations don’t happen in two months—and I don’t promise that. But clarity about the system you’ve lived in your whole life is already a lot. That’s where real change begins.
Feedback from course participants (in Ukrainian)
The first and second cohorts of the course “Psychotherapy of Transgenerational Trauma” have been completed.
The first cohort (October 3 – December 19, 2025) took place amid the realities of full-scale war: missile strikes, bombardment of Ukrainian cities, total blackouts. Despite this — not a single cancellation, not a single postponement. From the first session to the last.
The second cohort (February 6 – April 24, 2026) fell during that same brutal winter of blackouts, shelling, and cold. Participants joined sometimes from their phones, sometimes with a power bank, sometimes from a city that had just been hit. And they, too, completed every session without a single cancellation.
The testimonials below are in Ukrainian, as all participants are Ukrainian. English translations will be added in due course.
You can find more working notes, insights, and observations about the course on the Telegram channel “War-Related Psychological Trauma”—to do so, enter the phrase “psychotherapy for transgenerational trauma” in the channel’s search bar
Or via the direct links:
on (non)coincidental coincidences, on how the unconscious surfaces through dreams, on shifts in family systems that undergo therapeutic interventions, on strong female lineages in participants’ families, on how nothing ever truly disappears, about the most profound traumas from one’s mother, about the genogram—as a self-portrait of the person who creates it, about metaphors of family loss, about working with emotional metaphors, about the synchronization among course participants, about how life’s mysteries work, about narratives, about the importance of sharing your story, because someone needs to hear it, see it, share it, about how transgenerational trauma is passed on (video metaphor with matches), about the victory of light
We are open to collaboration
Corporate training: programs for psychological services, medical facilities, and military organizations. University partnerships: integration of programs into curricula. Supervision and consulting: for organizations working with trauma.
We have been working throughout the war — and we will continue to do so afterward.
Join us.
For inquiries regarding cooperation:
warpsychotrauma@gmail.com
+380 68 95 92 911
About mental health during and after the war (in Ukrainian, but you can use Telegram’s translator):