About

I am Valeriia Palii, a Ukrainian clinical psychologist, educator, and professional leader working to make evidence-based mental-health care accessible during crisis and recovery.

I was born in 1986 in Kyiv and educated at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, where I earned the Candidate of Psychological Sciences degree, a PhD equivalent in Ukraine. From the outset of my university training, my focus has been clinical psychology and psychotherapy. I subsequently completed training in the client-oriented approach and developed as a psychotherapist. I also hold the EuroPsy European Certificate in Psychology.

My formative years, my teens and early twenties, coincided with the key events in the establishment of democracy in our country: the Orange Revolution and the Maidan. I volunteered and took an active part in both experiences that profoundly shaped my worldview and deepened my commitment to ethics, community care, and building systems that can scale in times of upheaval.

My professional mission is to make psychology in Ukraine better, bringing it in line with recognized global standards, and to make services more accessible for Ukrainians. Throughout my career, I have worked as a private psychotherapist, served as a lecturer and leader of educational programs at Ukrainian universities, led various mental-health projects, and remained actively engaged in developing Ukraine's professional community of psychologists. In 2024–2025, I was a non-resident fellow at the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs.

From 2020 to 2024, I had the honor of serving as President of the National Psychological Association, leading Ukraine's community of psychologists through the first years of the full-scale invasion and helping build services that people could rely on in the most difficult times. When I first joined the association, it had around 200 members; by the time I stepped down, the NPA had grown to more than 2,000. The most dramatic growth occurred during the full-scale invasion, when, as an organization, we built a reliable support network for psychologists, actively collaborated with international initiatives, and launched a number of vital projects for Ukrainian society. I now serve as Vice President of the National Psychological Association.

In July 2022, I received an American Psychological Association (APA) Presidential Citation for mobilizing professional leadership and mental-health support during the war, a recognition I view as a tribute to Ukraine's entire community of psychologists who chose service over fear.