Gavin Rees is a trauma expert and the Senior Advisor for Training and Innovation at the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. For many years, he has worked with groups on trauma prevention, resilience building, and conducted training sessions for journalists and documentary filmmakers on how to properly conduct interviews with people who have experienced traumatic events. To get someone to open up, you need to create an environment and atmosphere during the conversation where they feel respected and want to share their experiences willingly. If the person in front of you is a friend or relative, you will be interacting with them not as a journalist. Gavin Rees reminds us that the same principle applies here—you should not force others to talk. Sometimes you may feel that your loved one absolutely needs to talk to relieve their emotional burden and painful memories. But some people prefer not to talk. Therefore, you must always leave the choice to the person whether to share their experience or not.

Journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk talks with Gavin Rees about the nature of trauma and the necessity of regaining a sense of control for a person after a difficult experience, resilience as an acquired trait, whether all Ukrainians are traumatized, how to avoid comparing tragedies, and the biggest mistake when communicating with someone who is grieving.

New tracks tagged #interview with survivors