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• HELPING PROFESSIONS IN A NEW WAR REALITY: EDUCATION TRENDS

  Nvard Melkonyan, Yuliana Melkumyan

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  Abstract

  Every crisis brings new challenges for the helping professionals: physicians, social workers, psychologists, as well as pedagogues and communication specialists. The new reality requires changes in the education system to help professionals by integrating new skills and competencies into their professiograms. Helping professionals have to be prepared to work in unusual physical conditions, threats and uncertainty, develop competence to act in emergencies to increase the safety of their beneficiaries. Lack of such skills not only makes the intervention complicated for helping professionals but also worsens the consequences of the crisis for society. This article examines the experience of helping professionals in Armenia, who were actively engaged in the processes of support and assistance to the people of concern throughout numerous crises that have happened in Armenian society since 2020: Covid-19 pandemic, the 44-day war in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), and the forcible displacement of Armenians from Artsakh to Armenia. The qualitative research unveiled the skill gaps that made the crisis response efforts more challenging for the helping professionals. Based on these findings the authors drafted the recommendations aimed at refining the education of helping professionals. Global crises have become a new normal, making crisis-management skills essential for helping professionals as the required support shifts across stages - from medical and social aid to social-psychological and then psychological assistance - demanding an intersectional, multidisciplinary response. Educating specialists for crisis-shaped environments requires updating professiograms to include rapid response, ethical and clear communication, trust-building, empathy, stress and trauma management, teamwork, volunteer engagement, and professional self-care. These suggestions entail adjustments and enhancements to their skill sets and competencies, as well as revisions to their professional frameworks

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