1 DVD: Surviving War, Surviving Peace (30 minutes) A training video for service providers working with refugee youth in resettlement context. This film highlights the struggles of refugee youth in Australia including the challenges of acculturation (learning a new language, racism, and the search for belonging). The youth featured in the film were co-producers, and they provide advice on how they would like others to treat refugee youth.

2 Readings Mollica RF, Son L (1989). Cultural Dimensions in the Evaluation and Treatment of Sexual Trauma. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 12(2), Simalchik, J. (2002). The politics of torture: dispelling the myths and understanding the survivors. Gorman, W. (2001). Refugee survivors of torture: Trauma and treatment. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 32, 443 ‑ 451. de Jong JP, Scholte WF, Koeter MWJ, Hart AAM (2000). The Prevalence of Mental Health Problems in Rwandan and Burundese Refugee Camps. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 102 (3), Bolton P (2001). Local Perceptions of the Mental Health Effects of the Rwandan Genocide. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 189(4),

3 Day 2 Overview 1. Goals of interventions 2. Women and Violence/SGBV 3. Definition of “trauma”; Massive Community Violence/ Collective trauma 4. Rwandan women post genocide – case studies 5. Political Torture and Sexual Violence 6. Palestinian man (torture survivor) case study 7. Traditional healers and alternative healing frameworks (PTSD and cultural bereavement – to start or rollover to Day 3)

Goals of Interventions What is it that psychosocial interventions are trying to achieve?

5 Broad Goals of Any Intervention 1. Increase protective factors/ decrease risk factors; 2. Increase resilience and coping skills (ability to “bounce back” from future difficulties). 3. Increase ability to function in daily activities/ reduce functional impairment (related to achieving personal goals); 4. Increase self-reported feeling of well-being/ decrease subjective distress/ reduce troublesome symptoms.

6 In order to achieve these goals: One must… 1. Understand personal definitions and expressions of (subjective) distress (local idioms); 2. Inventory existing and absent protective factors and coping skills; 3. Understand the individual in psychosocial context (ie- the impact of the social environment on the individual and vice versa).

7 Most importantly… You must determine jointly with the client(s) what “success” or improvement will look like in their particular case in order to determine if the interventions have been successful or not… How will you measure “success” and avoid the desire to assume effectiveness of interventions in the presence of evidence to the contrary?

8 Psychosocial Interventions encompass a wide range of diverse options and can include… Witnessing/ empathic listening; Promoting access to justice; Traditional ceremonies/ involvement of traditional healers or spiritual advisors; Counseling/therapy (individual, family, group or community level – cognitive, behavioral, etc.); Use of the arts (drama, art, personal narrative, etc);

9 Examples of psychosocial interventions (cont…) (Referral for) psychotropic medication; Conflict resolution dialogue; Job referral/ employment support; Promoting access to educational opportunities; Sports activities; Community-level awareness raising, etc.