Twelve Kosovo-Albanian interpreters at the Danish Red Cross (DRC) asylum reception centre participated in an interview about their background and work. The majority had fled from the Serbian persecution in Kosovo, which involved living in a permanently hypervigilant stat, with intense fear of rape, ethnic suppression and civil war. All of the interpreters reported a heavy workload and a high level of distress. The most distressing part was interpreting at interviews for psychologists, where stories of torture, annihilation, persecution, and loss were told.

The authors describe a programme for victims of war structured around day care treatment that takes into account the need f patients for structure and at the same time makes it possible for them to re-experience the trauma. This programme consists ofa combination f a storytelling group and art therapy.

Keywords: psycho trauma, storytelling, narrative group psychotherapy, art therapy, testimony, victims of war

Introduction

This article describes a study on the impact ofwar on Eritrean children living in an internally displaced persons camp in the Gash Barka region.. It is based on a psychosocial needs assessment conducted within the framework of a psychosocial project by the Dutch non-governmental organisation (NGO) ‘War Child,’. Key research questions used included; the nature of the traumatic experiences of the children, the prevalence of psychosocial problems, and the need for therapeutic intervention.

This paper describes an instrument for the monitoring and evaluation fprograms designed to improve the psychosocial well being of children: the Community Participatory Evaluation Tool (CPET). The community plays an important role when the evaluation tool is properly utilised. The rationale for use of the tool is explained, and its application in practice is illustrated with a case study.

Keywords: evaluation, community coping mechanisms, developmental tasks, monitoring

This article describes a therapeutic framing course suitable for traumatised adolescent refugees, aimed at coping with nightmares. The training connects directly with the complaints and symptoms of these refugees. As a result they feel less helpless. Sometimes this training becomes a point of departure for therapy during which traumatic experiences are discussed.

Keywords: adolescents, unaccompanied minors, PTSD

The problems of adolescent refugees in a western country

This paper is based on findings from a support group that was run at the Trauma Clinic in the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSFR) in Johannesburg, South Africa. It offered an intensive vocational training course with psychosocial interventions over a period of three months. The psychosocial interventions included a two-hour weekly psycho-education programme and a two-hour weekly support group intervention.

Traumatized refugees arrive in a new country exhausted, depleted and disoriented. Moreover, they have to face many new challenges such as getting legal residency, learning a new language and the ways of a new culture, finding housing, employment, etc:. With all these burdens, most parents have little solace to offer their children,, children who are also uprooted and overwhelmed.