Social Health Care for Healing Syrian Refugees

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.