Pathways to embodied empathy and reconciliation after atrocity: Former boy soldiers in a dance/movement therapy group in Sierra Leone

A time limited dance/movement therapy group, facilitated by adult males, provided creative movement opportunities and other embodied healing activities for adolescent orphans who, as boys, had been involved in wartime atrocities. This fusion of Western trauma treatment and ritual proved transformative in helping the youths overcome violent impulses and rediscover the pleasure of collective endeavour.

A new start, an open end. The reintegration of individual demobilized combatants in Colombia

This article is the result of a study carried out by IKV Pax Christi, a government programme that aims to demobilize combatants of the guerrilla and paramilitary and reintegrate them into Colombian society. The lessons learned during this research, regarding the failures of the government reintegration programme, have been of great use to the indigenous communities in northern Cauca. As a result, these communities have decided to start their own reintegration programme at the community level with an indigenous approach.

Individual demobilization and reintegration process in Colombia: implementation, challenges and former combatants’ perspectives

After decades of armed conflict, the Colombian government has implemented a voluntary individual disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programme (DDR). This paper is based on interviews of former combatants from illegal armed groups, from both the left and right, governmental officials, and military personnel involved in the processes. The findings of this research suggest that the individual demobilization process as a military strategy is a success.

Psychosocial support for children, families and teachers in Iraq

In 2003, a community based psychosocial programme for children in Iraq was started. Psychosocial activities were implemented in primary schools and in primary health care settings aimed at child mental health protection. This field report describes the programme and some of the difficulties that were encountered. It concludes that even in circumstances as difficult as they are in Iraq it is possible to run psychosocial programmes - if reliable partners are involved.

Sensitization around psychological trauma: the results of a campaign in a district of the Democratic Republic of Congo

In the north eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an area affected by war and armed conflicts, a sensitization campaign about (coping with) traumatic stress has been carried out. This campaign has positively influenced the awareness of key community members to traumatic stress. In this paper, the campaign and its results are presented.

Keywords: Democratic Republic Congo, sensitization, traumatic stress, armed conflict

 

Introduction

Médecins Sans Frontières: mental health care in post-tsunami Aceh Province, a field report

This article describes a mental health program in the Aceh Province, a conflict area in Indonesia, after the tsunami. The intervention aimed to normalize community life, through activities such as the construction of a volleyballfield and the organization of a tournament, as well as organizing talking groups to reinforce solidarity and mutual support. On an individual level, offering counselling services supported normalization. The beneficiaries appreciated the communities based group activities the most.

The use of consensus methodology in determining key research and practice: development questions in the field of intervention with children associated with fighting forces

Over the course of a consultation meeting on best practice in care and protection of children associated with fighting forces, consensus methodology was used to identify appraisals of key areas where research was required to strengthen the knowledge base supporting programming policy.

Challenges for a future reintegration programme in Somalia: outcomes of an assessment on drug abuse, psychological distress and preferences for reintegration assistance

Based on an assessment of over 8000 active militia members and military staff in seven regions of Somalia, this article reports on three groups of respondents who might require special attention in a future Somali disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programme. The assessment revealed distinct preferences concerning future reintegration assistance, according to region, age and gender of the respondents.

Mathematics, psychosocial work and human rights: a unique partnership between technical consultants and community organizers in India

Bestpracticeinpsychosocialworkwithmarginalized populations emphasizes the importance of community participatory approaches. However, the majority of field reports on psychosocial support with marginalized children describe donor initiated projects in which the goal is community empowerment, ownership and control, rather than reports about collaboration with activist movements arising from the communities themselves.

Linking economics and emotions: towards a more integrated understanding of empowerment in conflict areas

The disintegration and disempowerment caused by war and organized violence in conflict areas are often reinforced by aid projects. Instead of addressing the social and psychological processes of threat andfear, destruction and trauma, loss and grief through interventions, they separate them, delegate them to specialists and ignore them in the other sectors of programming humanitarian aid. On the other hand, in psychosocial projects, the material needs of people are not always addressed adequately.

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