Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T02:02:53.033Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 2 - Diaspora Therapists Working in the Earthquake Zone

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2022

Armen Goenjian
Affiliation:
David Geffen School of Medicine; UCLA/Duke University National Center for Child Traumatic Stress
Alan Steinberg
Affiliation:
UCLA/Duke University National Center for Child Traumatic Stress
Robert Pynoos
Affiliation:
UCLA/Duke University National Center for Child Traumatic Stress
Get access

Summary

During the first six months after the earthquake, the diaspora Psychiatric Outreach Program (POP) therapists treated children and adolescents in schools and adults in tents, hospitals, factories, and mobile clinics. Successful implementation of the program depended on careful recruitment and preparation of the therapists and establishing strong working relationships with local partners. Therapists started their rotations in the earthquake zone by first meeting with Health and Education Ministry personnel, then school principals to get their approval to work with teachers and students. Therapists addressed the psychological needs of the principals and teachers before and during the time they worked with the students. Trauma-grief-focused group therapy was provided to students. Those who had severe symptoms were seen individually after the group meetings. Most therapists experienced mild anxiety and depressive symptoms during their tenure. Few were vicariously traumatized and were unable to continue working. The relief work had a positive impact on the professional lives of many who later excelled as educators and therapists. Because of the ongoing shortage of local therapists, a three-year teaching/training program was initiated by POP therapists to prepare qualified local psychotherapists. Graduates who were licensed by the Ministry of Health worked alongside the diaspora therapists in the schools and clinics. The chapter describes lessons learned from our experiences and mistakes.

Type
Chapter
Information
Lessons Learned in Disaster Mental Health
The Earthquake in Armenia and Beyond
, pp. 9 - 17
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×