The National Partnership for Community Training (NPCT), an ORR funded program of Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services, provided one full-day training in Columbus, OH on April 30th of 2009 in collaboration with the Ohio State University (OSU) Interpreter Services and US Together of Columbus. NPCT offered this training to service providers, community advocates, mental and health care providers working with refugee and other immigrant communities. The ultimate goal of the training is to empower providers to help these populations achieve wellness.
The morning session was designed for social service providers and the title was Promising Practices for Social Service Providers. A total of 51 individuals were trained. The afternoon session was designed for medical service providers and the title was Serving Refugees in a Healthcare Setting. The latter session was attended by 69 individuals. Both training sessions offered a short overview about torture and torture survivors’ strengths and resilience. Participants had an opportunity to learn about methods and approaches to support and assist torture survivors.
Promising Practices for Social Service Providers
Morning Session (Workshop #1)
Registrants were generally from refugee resettlement agencies, non-profit social service agencies, and medical care services. Dr. Mary Fabri, Senior Director of Torture Treatment Services and International Training at the Marjorie Kovler Center for the Treatment of Survivors of Torture at the Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights was invited to train.
Dr. Fabri’s session titled Promising Practices for Social Service Provider provided an overview of torture, comparison of torture with other extreme violence acts such as war, genocide, and domestic violence. Her presentation also provided information about trauma among torture survivors; this part of the presentation was supplemented by screening of film clips that represent the triple trauma paradigm. Additionally, Dr. Fabri described ways to support torture survivors’ resiliency and strengths and discussed implications of training content on providers’ work.
Serving Refugees in a Healthcare Setting
Afternoon Session (Workshop #2)
Sixty-seven individuals participated in workshop #2 that took place on the afternoon of April 30, 2009. Registrants were generally from mental health and medical care services. The principal trainer was Dr. Mary Fabri. The presentation provided an overview of torture embedded in a traditional medical context, consequences of torture (health, physical, and social), framework of cares for survivors of torture and political violence, and medical issues in care of torture survivors. Moreover, she screened and discussed a clip from the TV show ER, which represented some of the information provided during the session. Dr. Mary Fabri provided information and guidance to medical care providers on how to support torture survivors.
An Action Plan was developed, primarily based on feedback from providers in the Austin area through the Needs Assessment, the one day training and the interactive exercises conducted during the training.
