On 14-16 November 2024, a strategic session on "Identifying the needs for managing professional burnout for staff of the penitentiary system of Ukraine" was held in Truskavets.

The main goal of the session was to identify the existing needs, problems and opportunities related to the management of professional burnout among staff in accordance with the national Strategy for the Reform of the Penitentiary System until 2026.

The event brought together representatives of the management team of the State Department of Execution of Criminal Sanctions (SDECS), as well as regional and local level staff representatives, who discussed the current challenges related to professional wellbeing and ways to address them. The session was moderated by Yulia Paskevska, a national consultant of the Council of Europe.

During the three days, the participants of the session:

• analysed the current challenges related to professional bias and emotional burnout of staff;
• identified key priorities and developed a set of measures to support the psychological wellbeing of penitentiary system employees;
• developed a draft Roadmap with specific steps for implementing these measures.

The participants of the event emphasised that the specifics of the work of staff who are in close contact with prisoners require the creation of a sustainable system of psychological assistance and support for preventing and effectively managing burnout.

The first step in this direction will be the implementation of a pilot programme by the SDECS’s Department of Resocialisation and Social Rehabilitation. Nataliia Rybalka, Deputy Head of SDECS, stressed the need to progressively equip all institutions of the penitentiary system with appropriate burnout prevention tools. "The implementation of such programmes should become systematic and include a gradual extension to all penitentiary institutions, which will ensure a long-term positive effect," she stressed.

The detailed Roadmap that was a result of the strategic session will form the basis for the introduction and implementation of a set of measures to manage professional burnout in the penitentiary system. This document defines specific steps, resources, performance indicators and expected results aimed at creating a sustainable and supportive working environment for staff.

The event was organised within the framework of the Council of Europe project "Towards more humane conditions of detention and reduced reoffending in Ukraine" (DECOPRIS), in cooperation with the Department for Execution of Criminal Sanctions of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.