How does ERL work?

ERL is a response to a crisis situation

ERL is a collegial space for mutual support in times of war. Here are the essentials:
  • Monthly online meetings between colleagues from Ukraine and across Europe
  • Different themes naturally emerge from the exchange — the sharing is fluid, allowing topics to surface such as dehumanization, transgenerational trauma, European history, transcultural connections, and more
  • Two-way interpretation so that everyone can express themselves in their own language
  • Neither therapy nor supervision — ERL offers a human connection beyond borders

Monthly listening

Listening is the living heart of ERL

ERL is above all a space for listening, sharing, and working online. Once a month, a group of psychotherapists from Ukraine and across Europe meet to reflect and exchange on the human challenges of living in a time of war.

The support is immensely valuable for our colleagues who experience this reality daily. But this space is also meaningful for European colleagues: it offers deep insights into war-related trauma in the population, transgenerational trauma still present in Europe, the body’s capacities for resilience and adaptation, and much more.

The group operates continuously, and occasionally a new person joins. For understandable reasons of intense stress in daily wartime life, we avoid too much turnover to maintain a calm, trusting atmosphere for exchange. The framework is set below the level of therapy for therapists or supervision, but within a collegial exchange that allows for thoughtful and grounded reflection. The needs of our Ukrainian colleagues always come first, so that the structure adapts to lived experiences—not the other way around.

If you are interested and would like to take part, please get in touch so we can talk together. You can contact us here.

What participants say

“Here, I find a space of safety and freedom.”
“It’s a community — a true sense of belonging.”
“It’s a place where wounds can heal.”

Time and again, participants describe ERL as a unique source of well-being, solidarity, and hope — a place where humanity is preserved, even in the heart of crisis.

Annual retreat

Responding to a need for renewal

This need emerged after about a year of listening within the virtual ERL. As the war situation continued to worsen, the exhaustion of our colleagues became more apparent. The idea of gathering in person in peaceful countries took shape.

We organized retreats in Denmark, Poland, and France. Each residential space welcomes colleagues according to different criteria: in Denmark, colleagues and their children; in Poland, younger colleagues; in France, supervisors and trainers. Selection is based on urgent needs, particularly in cases of confirmed or impending burnout.

The benefits are numerous and long-lasting, strengthened by the ongoing monthly online meetings.

What participants say

“Here, I find a space of safety and freedom.”
“It’s a community — a true sense of belonging.”
“It’s a place where wounds can heal.”

Time and again, participants describe ERL as a unique source of well-being, solidarity, and hope — a place where humanity is preserved, even in the heart of crisis.