Narrative Processing: A Framework for Psychological Recovery and Meaning-Making is one of the core methodological directions underpinning the psychological services and resilience-oriented practices at Zhytomyr Polytechnic State University, developed in collaboration with John Gordon Sennett and Barbara Nickless. The framework represents a structured, human-centered, and trauma-informed approach designed to support psychological recovery, emotional integration, and long-term resilience in the context of crisis, displacement, loss, traumatic experience, and societal disruption.

The approach provides individuals with a professionally guided and psychologically safe environment for processing lived experiences through reflective engagement with personal narratives. By helping individuals articulate, organize, and reinterpret difficult experiences within broader life contexts, Narrative Processing supports the restoration of internal coherence, emotional regulation, meaning-making, and a renewed sense of continuity and agency.

A central principle of the framework is that recovery is not based on repetitive re-experiencing of trauma, but on the gradual reconstruction of personal meaning, dignity, and identity. Through carefully facilitated reflection, individuals move from perceiving themselves primarily as “holders of trauma” toward becoming active authors of their own life stories. This transition strengthens psychological resilience, self-efficacy, adaptive functioning, and long-term emotional sustainability.

The methodology integrates elements of reflective practice, trauma-informed support, narrative meaning-making, psychosocial stabilization, and resilience-oriented intervention. It may be applied across diverse settings, including:

• psychological support services;
• educational environments;
• veteran reintegration initiatives;
• youth and student wellbeing programs;
• crisis and recovery interventions;
• professional resilience and human capital development.

Importantly, Narrative Processing is increasingly gaining international academic and professional recognition. The framework was recently presented at the annual conference of the International Center for Moral Injury in a paper titled “Writing Through Moral Injury.” The presentation explored the potential of Narrative Processing as a framework for the diagnosis, treatment, and possible prevention of moral injury, particularly in contexts involving war, crisis, ethical conflict, and prolonged psychological strain.

Within this perspective, Narrative Processing is positioned not only as a therapeutic-support methodology but also as an emerging interdisciplinary model for addressing complex trauma, moral injury, identity disruption, and long-term psychosocial recovery. The approach contributes to the development of psychologically informed, dignity-centered, and resilience-oriented systems that support individuals and communities through crises and transformation.

Within the broader ecosystem of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) at Zhytomyr Polytechnic, Narrative Processing serves simultaneously as:

• a psychological recovery framework;
• an educational and reflective methodology;
• a resilience-building practice;
• and a human-centered model for strengthening social cohesion, recovery, and long-term societal sustainability.