Social Health Care for Healing Syrian Refugees

In October, SHC opened a pilot test site to provide services for widowed Syrian refugee mothers and their children. For four days, SHC staff and volunteers ran support groups for the mothers and provided extensive individual treatment for the mothers and for the children. Therapeutic play groups for the children were offered as well. This new site allows students trained in the SHC training programs to provide direct services and integrate trauma support skills they've been learning in the virtual and on the ground trainings. For the first time, we are able to offer ongoing psychosocial support services. Demand for our trainings continue to grow as the reality on the ground is there are few trained/able to provide any trauma informed care to a highly traumatized Syrian refugee population. We are in the beginning stages of negotiating with regional universities to help establish new university programs in community mental health and clinic psychology. There is a severe lack of training and services in the region. Linking students in the region to the professional trainings being offered through SHC has been a long standing goal of the program. SHC is committed to capacity building so the overwhelming trauma treatment needs within the refugee community can be met.

Additionally, we continue to bring in creative people to lift the spirits of the community. This year we were able to sponsor concerts ( via emptyhandsmusic.com)  for the refugee community in the Irbid, Jordan area and in Amman, Jordan. The concerts were high energy and brough many, many smiles to the children and their families. The performing artist  graciously brought his energy to the pilot clinic site and worked with the children in using music as a therapeutic tool. The performer who lives in India brought necklaces (see picture) made by street children in India for the Syrian refugee children. The necklaces were printed in English and Arabic. During one interaction with a Syrian adolescent , the young man was challenging whether there could ever be peace and that it was a pipe dream. In that conversation, a dialogue began about finding that peace with ourselves first. A light bulb went off in the young man's mind during that conversation and he stated he now "understood." He then passed out hundreds of the necklaces to refugees attending the concert.

This month SHC is launching an expansion of our services to the Syrian refugees in Jordan. SHC is opening a community psychosocial clinic in an Amman apartment building serving widows/heads of households and their children. SHC staff and profesional psychologist volunteers from the U.S. will join SHC students/volunteers in launching the first week of services offerred through the clinic. The clinic based in a building offering transitional apartments for refugee families will be able to expand offerings in stress management, parenting skills, tools for managing PTSD/anxiety/depression, and specialized support groups.

Additionally, in alliance with Michigan State University Department of Psychiatry, Steve Olweean of Common Bond Institute/SHC joins Dr. Farha Abbasi in offering a training in mental health services for religious leaders and religious teachers serving the refugee population. The religious community is often a source of counseling and support to the refugee community. The training provides information on understanding mental health issues and how religious leaders can provide support and referral as appropriate. The training is based on highly successful program serving Imams in the United States. Dr. Abbasi is a psychiatrist and faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry at Michigan State. Additionally, she is editor of the Journal for Islamic Mental Health.

We are pleased to have the presence of Nimo Patel (www.emptyhandsmusic.com) with us in Jordan. He will be providing a number of free concerts in schools,clinics, hospitals, and public areas serving the refugee children. Nimo travels the world in offering his message of peace and healing through music. Nimo's music raises the spirits of all who attend and brings his positive message of hope in the darkest of times. 

October 21-24 is the annual International Transgenerational Trauma Conference in Amman. The conference offers a wide range of training specific to addressing the mental health issues related to personal and communal trauma of the refugees. A number of sources have raised concerns that the Syrian refugee children are at high risk for being a lost generation, not only because of their exposure to violence, as large numbers have not been in school for years;  the loss of their fathers and other family members; the loss of home/community; and being forced to work to help their families survive. In addition to offering real tools for addressing the psychosocial needs of the refugees, the conference raises the question of how do we work to prevent the trauma of this generation being transmitted to future generations. The conference is one tool for bringing together students,volunteers, and professionals seeking to address the massive mental health issues present amongst the refugees.