Social Health Care for Healing Syrian Refugees

In July, Social Health Care for Healing Syrian Refugees (SHC) staff held a series of meetings related to the refugee issues in the Freiburg, Germany area. SHC staff met with representatives of a local aid organization, city administration officials in charge of migration and asylum seekers, and staff of 3 refugee camps. There was great need and interest in the idea of possible benefits of both cross training (Germany and Jordan) and a conference on the refugee crisis in Europe and the Middle East. There is interest in the possibility of continuing this new conference as well as further training. 

What we learned is there are a number of government and volunteer services/programs to assist refugees and assylum seekers throughout Germany. There are many good hearted volunteers (though the numbers have dropped massively since the initial wave of refugees) and staff. The reality is that many of hte programs and opportunities are mainly on paper, but they are not being realized. The original systems and facilities created to receive, intake, process, place, and integrate refugees and asylum seekers have broken down significantly under the size of the need and numbers of people. These facilities offer very little space, no real privacy, confinement to within the walls, and no information how long tehy will be in limbo. In at least one camp there is a problematic mix of refugees from many cultures, religions, countries, regions,races,and languages. Some of the refugees are from places where their communities are in direct conflict with each other. There are also a lot of single men from these various societies pushed together with families in a confined space. So there is a lot of tension between these groups, in addtion to the tensions due to their being in such limbo with no idea of what tomorrow brings for them. The serious lack of privacy, especially between those from different societies and cultures, is creating a great deal of tension, depression, and sometimes violence.

We heard from staff at each camp that they are seriously overwhelmed by the simple lack of adequate staffing, and burdened by unrealistic and cumbersome policies and the difficult conditions at the camps. There is little of what we would call psychosocial treatment (though staff acknowledge the high need with a highly traumatized population) because staff that have some of these skills do not have enough time to provide these sorts of services. There was great interest in the November conference in Germany becoming a shared experience conference of those working with the refugees and being able to offer policy suggestions to the governments on what works, what doesn't work, and aligning policies for the best outcomes.

We are increasing our development of a full service psychosocial clinic in the residential building servicing 40 refugee families in Amman. With the full development of certificate and graduate education programs at two Jordanian Universities, the residence will serve as a placement site for students learning how to provide psychosocial programs addressing stress management, vocational skills, trauma informed care, medical and mental health services, and addressing special education needs. New equipment was purchased along with improved internet connection which allows for increased virtual education and medical/mental health consultation (telemedicine services).

SHC's goal has always been to build capacity for sustainable trauma informed care services. The establishment of the pilot clinic at the residential building is being viewed as a research model for duplication in other places serving the refugee population needs. Through our alliance with Michigan State University in the U.S. and Yarmouk University in Jordan, we will now be able to research what is working and what adjustments will be needed. In July, SHC staff members will be in Freiburg, Germany to share some of our training model with psychologists there trying to meet refugee mental health needs in their area. Additionally, we will be providing services with the refugee community. An alliance is being built between the German psychological community to share training with Jordanian students/volunteers/staff with SHC and for people in Jordan to help the German psychological community learn about how to create culturally sensitive services for the refugees there. It is an example of the collaborations and cross fertilization we are always working to create. We will be using this visit to build a conference set for November addressing the needs of the refugees in Germany and the Middle East. 

The needs of the children are diverse. We are working to help teachers/schools learn about how to address the special needs of students who may be experiencing PTSD or other forms of emotional trauma. At the beginning of the conflict, a large majority of the children were not in school. Over time, the numbers have increased and there have been problems with the children feeling bullied for being the "outsiders". In individual counseling and in working with staff, we have worked to empower the children with ways they can handle being bullied. In more and more situations, the Syrian children are attending Syrian only classes after regular school has occurred. This coming fall, we will have a number of trainers coming to the region to share training in expressive arts therapy with children.