Little time is left before Ukraine and Poland will host the European Football Championship of 2012. Even if the hotels, public transport, roads, stadiums and volunteers are well prepared but the security of the visitors and the control of their behavior is neglected, the preparation of such an important event will fail in many areas. Currently, the police, the staff of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the internal forces are undergoing the psychological trainings. The teaching methods have been suggested by the Scientific and Research Laboratory of the Extreme and Crisis Psychology at the National Ukrainian University of Civil Protection in Kharkiv. Its personnel provide the psychological support for the people in the most complicated situations such as plane crashes, explosions, mine accidents, etc. Director of the Laboratory of the Extreme and Crisis Psychology Svitlana LEBEDIEVA told The Day about the psychologists’ work with football fans (the psychologists will work at the stadiums 24 hours a day) and the psychological training of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Emergency Situations staff and internal forces.
Could you, please, tell about the importance of the psychologists’ work during Euro-2012?
“When working with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Emergency Situations we take part in the preparation to the European Football Championship. We analyze every stage, starting with the arrival of the football fans to each city and finishing with their departure… at every stage we analyze the algorithm of work with fans, analyze a group of fans and decide what should be done in certain situations. We did not consider the stadiums since the psychologists at the Ministry of Internal Affairs that will work during the matches will be responsible for what will happen there. We will work outside the stadiums. The same goes for the interior forces’ psychologists and the psychologists of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. We involve the psychologists that work in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Mi-nistry of Emergency Situations and internal forces in every city that will host the championship. We have already trained the specialists in Lviv, Donetsk and Kharkiv. Kyiv is next. The point is that in case of emergency a lot more trained people who can give the urgent psychological help are needed. If there are a lot of dead or injured you should triple or quadruple the number of the specialists needed since you have to take into account the relatives who need help.
“A psychologist looks at someone in the crowd and considers whether this person has a social network and is able to commit a suicide. A specialist looks at their mimics, gestures and diagnoses various negative conditions. If it is a stupor lasting half-an-hour the psychologist tries to terminate it. The same goes for the hysterics. In emergency si-tuations we work without sleep or rest, just quick snacks so that the injured and their relatives do not see us. From our experience, emergency situations last up to seven days.”
Could you, please, give any examples of psychologists’ work with football fans?
“I would like to emphasize that all the people who work as psychologists have the higher psychological education. There are no volunteers since we are responsible for the situation and the people. We need the personnel with special knowledge and skills able to give the right diagnosis. At the same time not every psychologist has encountered, say, the panic. Our task is to model the panic with the help of exercises. With this purpose we divide the groups into two parts: one group is in panic and the other one ‘covers’ the people for two to three minutes (starts stirring the first group as it happens in the crowd). Thus, it brings the group to the minimal panic reactions. Accordingly, after that we work out an algorithm of work with the crowd, the recommendations what to do and how to help the people. In order to do this one has to feel the panic at least a little bit. These are the developments of the Scientific and Research Laboratory of the Extreme and Crisis Psychology.”
Does it mean that you do not use your foreign colleagues’ techniques?
“We have undergone the trainings with our German colleagues. They have shared their experience when hosting the World Football Championship; however, unfortunately, most of their methods are not good to us. Their mentality is absolutely different and their problems are not problems for our military and policing branch. I will give you an example: they taught their policemen how to smile for over a year. It is not difficult for us. First of all, we should provide decent clothes for our policemen. In the West they are used to asking policemen for any help. That is why uniformed people should look the way one would like to approach them and share some problems.”
What is the point of the policemen training in Ukraine?
“They have to be able to provide the psychological help but first of all they are responsible for their staff. What is the difference between the psychologists of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the internal forces? We are responsible not only for our personnel, I mean, the maintenance of their psychic health; we are also responsible for the people during an emergency situation. I repeat that in a case of emergency we have to quickly react and cooperate.”
What are the situations during Euro-2012 that can be considered emergencies?
“Fire or collapse of a stand… We also have the video trainings and analyze how it happened at other stadiums. Later we create an algorithm: what we will do in such cases. We divide the people into subgroups, decide who works together and implement our methods.”
Will the psychologists work 24 hours a day?
“They will work this way during the championship. We have activated the scheme of working with the reserve. People in the wait state lasting 24 hours or longer ‘burn out.’ They need to do something. They have to undergo the information therapy and be told something all the time.”
Not only Ukrainian fans but also a lot of foreign visitors are expected. How do you provide for this in your work?
“Of course, most of the people will come from the West. Currently, a large data base is being created: who will come, what will the fans and the groups be, etc. It will be easy to work with the fans accompanied by the policemen. For example, the Great Britain and Germany will come with their policemen. They know their fans and how to work with them. The main thing is that the fans can do anything they want as long as they are unknown and the police do not have any information about them. If a group is accompanied by a policeman and some of the fans do something forbidden, their policeman will approach our policemen and inform them who should be arrested.”
We will hold the championship with Poland. Do you cooperate with the Polish psychologists?
“No, we don’t. Firstly, because of the language barrier. Secondly, our basis is different from theirs and our skills are different, too.”
Will it be difficult for you to work with the Ukrainians from the point of mentality?
“It depends on who we compare them with. For example, it is easier to work with the Germans. They are used to consulting psychologists with any question they have. For example, tonight they have insomnia and the next morning they visit a psychologist. The latter chooses the appropriate correction methods and works with this person. Most of our people are used to solving all their problems on their own. Only if someone is being got at with something and cannot live with it, they address the psychologist.”
The final match will be played in Kyiv. Does it mean that you will work hard there?
“Yes, since it will be the final match and the people will not want to leave just after it. We have not only to receive them but also decently see them off the country. By the way, we consider that people will drink a lot of alcohol, so we have also role-played how to behave with someone having the alcoholic or drug intoxication.”
Will the psychologists wear the uniform or the civilian clothes?
“It will depend on a structure. You know that we have the special uniform with a sign ‘MES Psychologist.’ The other structures have not decided on it yet.”
Where are your personnel working now?
“A month ago they came back from Luhansk: there was a mine accident in the region. We also worked during the explosions in Dnipropetrovsk, Lozova and during plane crashes. We start working as soon as the emergency situation happens. In order to prevent our psychologists from ‘burning out’ we hold special psychological trainings called ‘Antistress.’ We also have a special training ‘Survive and Save’ for the rescuers who worked during the regional and national level emergency situations. Unfortunately, we do have a small percent of the personnel turnover (two to three people a year): these are the people who cannot cope with their personal worries after an emergency situation.”
