Oxana Bayer, Ph.D. – Advisory Board Member
Dr. Oxana Bayer is Associate Professor of psychology at Alfred Nobel University in Dnipro, Ukraine, specializing in existential analysis, trauma studies, and the long-term impact of Soviet rule in Ukraine. She graduated in 2002 from Oles Honchar Dnipropetrovsk National University, Ukraine, with a degree in psychology, and received her Ph. D. in 2006. Beside her academic work, Dr. Bayer provides therapy in her private practice, in existential analysis.
Dr. Bayer published numerous articles in Ukrainian and English. Her article “Coping with Repression in Soviet Ukraine” (co-authored with Ievgeniia Martyshenko), published in European Scientific Journal (2016), studies various techniques and strategies used by people experiencing social repression during Soviet rule in Ukraine. Her textbook Life Crises of a Personality (2nd ed.) was awarded a regional award for the best handbook and for utilizing qualitative methods.
Over the course of her career, Dr. Bayer became an ardent proponent of qualitative research in psychology in Ukraine. She presented and published on this subject in the public media and in the academic press. Her work on this subject was awarded by the Ministry of Education of Ukraine as the best work in social sciences. In January 2022, Dr. Bayer also organized the First All-Ukrainian Conference on Qualitative Research Methods in Psychology.
In 2022, Dr. Bayer was a Visiting Fulbright Scholar at Duquesne University, USA, and the same year, she received a FRESCO grant to conduct research at Albert Ludwig University in Freiburg, Germany. Since 2014, Dr. Bayer has been working with the Ukrainian Society of Overcoming the Consequences of Traumatic Events, organizing several international events with participants from Ukraine, Israel, and the U.S.
From February 2022, Dr. Bayer has been organizing international lectures, supervision and consultation groups, as well as support groups in response to the overwhelming needs of psychologists and psychotherapists residing in Ukraine and those who have been displaced by the war.
Our Story
Numa is honored and happy to greet Mrs. Oxana Bayer, Ph.D. as a member of our Advisory Board! Dr. Bayer is essential for our involvement in assisting our Ukrainian colleagues who work in the field of psychotherapy and social work through the Psychological Assistance to Refugees and Displaced group!
I vividly remember my first conversation with Oxana in March 2022, when we spoke about how we can support Ukrainian psychotherapists impacted by the war with Russia. I came into contact with Oxana through a network of academic colleagues– East European women scholars. At my end, it was Prof. Elena Gapova, a Belarusian-American sociologist whom I’ve known for nearly 30 years. When Oxana called, I was sitting in my car in a parking lot, ready to take off to see my child. I was in Valparaiso, Indiana, and Oxana was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The conversation between two strangers who had never seen each other before, in a context of war which was still a shock, was stressful for both of us but we quickly moved to talk business.
Oxana has helped to facilitate a supervision/introvision Zoom group on psychological help for refugees and displaced people, for Ukrainian psychologists and psychotherapists. The group is based in Oxana’s hometown of Dnipro in Ukraine at her Alma Mater Alfred Nobel University in Dnipro but reaches to professionals and students all over Ukraine and abroad.
Since mid-March, the group has been meeting weekly on Fridays, at 9:30am EST. Since then, James W. Williams and I have been meeting amazing Ukrainian colleagues who work under wartime conditions either at their hometowns, or as refugees and displaced people. We deeply respect and admire all of them. As for us, it has been a life-changing experience, connecting us with the people of Ukraine in a way which escapes words. That experience would not be possible without Oxana.
On our short but intense journey, Oxana has helped at every corner, and has been tireless in her commitment and work for people in need, despite her own personal distress and experience of displacement. Oxana helps to organize the group, making sure that we always have our wonderful translators who do their work voluntarily; if needed, she steps in and translates herself. She assisted in finding a Ukrainian translator for the trauma-informed workbooks for children and adolescents. She consults the needs of people impacted by the war. She consults our ideas and progress. She is always there when we need her, even in the early mornings, and late at night.
We are very happy that Oxana allowed us to officially recognize her role in our work, and we are proud to appoint her as the first member of Numa’s Advisory Board.