Twenty-five penitentiary staff psychologists strengthened their knowledge, practical skills and capacity to train their peers in delivering the Programme on "Management of Professional Burnout of Penitentiary Personnel of Ukraine" during a three-day Training of Trainers held on 13-15 August, with the support of the Council of Europe project "Towards More Humane Detention Conditions and Reduced Reoffending in Ukraine" (DECOPRIS).

This training builds directly on earlier work carried out to improve penitentiary staff well-being: following the initial development of the Programme, a pilot phase engaged 56 staff members across seven institutions of the State Criminal-Executive Service of Ukraine.

Over three days, participants were equipped not only with the Programme's full content — covering burnout diagnostics, stress management, emotional intelligence and psychological safety — but also with the methodological skills needed to deliver it independently to colleagues. Each participant facilitated practice sessions and received individual feedback, ensuring genuine readiness to train others.

Following the training, all participants were certified as Programme trainers, marking a shift from pilot implementation to systematic scale-up. Certified trainers will implement the Programme in their own institutions and will lead cascade trainings for staff from other penitentiary institutions across Ukraine. This will allow the Programme to reach a wider number of penitentiary staff and strengthen the system's capacity to address professional burnout and promote staff well-being.

This progress — from pilot, through Programme refinement, to trainer certification and cascade delivery — reflects a sustainable model for embedding burnout prevention within the penitentiary system, reinforcing the Council of Europe's ongoing cooperation with the State Criminal-Executive Service of Ukraine in promoting staff well-being, humane detention conditions and reduced reoffending.

The Council of Europe project “Towards More Humane Conditions of Detention and Reduced Reoffending in Ukraine” (DECOPRIS) is implemented within the framework of the Council of Europe’s Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” (2023–2026). DECOPRIS aims to enhance the protection of prisoners’ rights by improving prison management practices and advancing rehabilitation efforts.