The roots of Clean Language in Ukraine
Clean Language first arrived in Ukraine thanks to the British psychotherapist Norman Vaughton. In the early 1990s, following the fall of the Iron Curtain, there was a significant boom in practical psychology across the former Soviet Union. Therapists from Western Europe and the US began visiting with various training programs. Among them Norman Vaughton conducted several workshops in Kyiv and Moscow. He taught his version of Epistemological Metaphor, an approach that originated with David Grove and his groundbreaking method of using Clean Language with his client’s metaphors.
In Kyiv these sessions were organized by my university classmate, Yuriy Perch. Today, Yuriy is the co-founder of our company, VIAM (viam.com.ua), which continues to serve as an ambassador for Clean Language in Ukraine.
While I wasn’t a direct participant in those first workshops, I remember the excitement of my colleagues who attended. They were truly inspired by Norman’s work, noting how strikingly different it was from any other therapeutic approach we knew at the time. Over the years, through peer intervisions, studying Norman’s training videos, and my own experiences as both a client and a therapist, I began integrating Epistemological Metaphor into my trauma therapy practice in 2008. The results were remarkable. This success inspired me to dig deeper into the methodology, which eventually led me to cleanlanguage.com and my introduction to Penny Tompkins and James Lawley in 2015.
Since then I have been conducting my own training programs in Epistemological Metaphor for Ukrainian psychologists and therapists. The feedback has been consistently positive, especially regarding the method’s effectiveness in short-term therapy.
Looking back, I feel a deep sense of gratitude to Norman for his pioneering spirit and for laying such a solid foundation. His contribution didn’t just introduce a method; it helped shape the way we support healing in Ukraine today.
The “Clean Language in Ukraine” project
The “Clean Language in Ukraine” project began in March 2022, in the first weeks following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The project started when British researchers and practitioners of Clean Language — Penny Tompkins and James Lawley — wrote to me. In that email, they expressed a clear and practical intention: to support Ukrainian psychologists and psychotherapists working with war-related trauma, using the approach and tools they know best — Clean Language and Symbolic Modelling.
Since 2022, Penny and James have been offering, on a regular and voluntary basis, a wide range of professional support for Ukrainian practitioners, including:
• Training webinars
• Practice-based learning sessions
• Professional supervision.
Over the past four years, they have delivered more than 50 free events for Ukrainian psychologists and psychotherapists working with clients affected by prolonged war, loss, forced displacement, and chronic stress.
From the outset, this work was not conceived as an export of a method. Rather, it developed as a professional dialogue and a shared inquiry, grounded in the realities of the Ukrainian context.
The project continues to this day.
Translations
Thanks to donations collected by the international Clean Language community, the seminal work by James Lawley and Penny Tompkins — Metaphors in Mind — was published in Ukrainian in 2023 as Metaphorychnyi Rozum. It is available from the publisher’s website: smaki.pub/product/metaforychnyi-rozum/
In parallel, and in close collaboration with Penny and James, David Grove’s Clean Language questions were translated into Ukrainian, along with several key articles and transcripts of demonstrations of them working. At the time of writing, 35 articles and transcripts are freely available on the website and represent an important step toward building a Ukrainian professional ‘Clean Language culture’: cleanlanguage.com/category/ww/ukrainian/
The emergence of a professional community
Through ongoing learning and regular meetings, a Ukrainian Clean Language community gradually emerged. Today, it includes more than 600 participants — psychologists, psychotherapists, coaches, and other helping professionals.
This is not a formal association, but a living professional network united by shared principles:
• Respect for the client’s lived experience,
• Linguistic neutrality,
• Professional humility,
• Trauma-informed work without pressure or imposed interpretations.
Entering the wider professional field
In 2024 an important milestone was reached in the institutional development of Clean Language in Ukraine. Within one of the country’s leading professional bodies — the Ukrainian Association of Specialists in Overcoming the Consequences of Psychotraumatic Events (psyservice.org.ua) — a dedicated Clean Language Section was formally established.
The creation of this section marked a significant step forward: it provided Clean Language with the status of a recognized professional methodological approach within the Ukrainian mental health field.
This recognition reflected both the sustained practical application of Clean Language in trauma-informed work and its growing relevance for Ukrainian psychologists and psychotherapists working with the long-term consequences of war-related trauma. For example, Clean Language and Symbolic Modelling were used as part of the recovery program of a Ukrainian soldier who had been repeatedly traumatised as a prisoner of war: cleanlanguage.com/back-to-life
In September 2025, Penny, James, Gina Campbell, Azi Khatiri, Yulia Epelbaum and myself presented at the international scientific and practice-based conference, Metaphor in Crisis Counseling and Trauma Psychotherapy: youtube.com/Метафора в кризовому консультуванні
The conference was organised by the Ukrainian training company VIAM which has become a key enabler of Clean Language development in Ukraine and delivers training programmes in Symbolic Modelling for Ukrainian psychologists, psychotherapists, and coaches.
In the same year, Gina Campbell delivered a full training course in Symbolic Modelling for a group of 12 Ukrainian psychologists working with clients who have been living and functioning under wartime conditions for four consecutive years.
Today and looking ahead
The Ukrainian Clean Language community continues to grow and evolve. In 2026, two further books are planned for publication in Ukrainian:
Insights in Space by James Lawley & Marian Way
Clean Approaches for Coaches by Marian Way.
These publications are part of a long-term strategy aimed at building a sustainable Ukrainian professional Clean Language field, capable of supporting both practitioners and clients in a reality where quick solutions are neither realistic nor ethical.
The Ukrainian Clean Language community expresses its deep gratitude to Penny, James and the entire international Clean Language community for their support, trust, and willingness to stand alongside Ukrainian professionals — not symbolically, but consistently and over time.
This project stands as an example of how professional solidarity can operate quietly, precisely, and with deep respect for human experience.
Further information and contact
If you would like to learn more about the Clean Language in Ukraine project, its activities, training programmes, and professional community, you are welcome to connect through the following channels:
Ukrainian Clean Language Community (Telegram): t.me/+Hw2Ea0OO-m40NGRi
Via VIAM the Ukrainian training partner and key facilitator of the project:: viam.com.ua
Email: viam.ukraine@gmail.com
