Present Projects
Family Therapy Project
A joint project with University of Hertfordshire, School of Psychology (UK) and the Palestine Trauma Centre. This project is funded by Muslim Aid(UK) and Interpal. This aims to provide, over 18 months, treatment for around 500 families who have been the most severely affected by the war – those whose homes were destroyed, or whose family members were killed or injured. This project started on 1st August 2010. This project is about saving a generation. It is a practical reaction to a humanitarian crisis, but it is also an academic exercise building on previous research. Its success will provide unique case studies and examples of good practice in psychosocial treatment which can then be extended to the West Bank and other Palestinian refugee camps in the region (i.e., Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon) or other war/disaster victims around the world.
Wellness and Focusing Project
Material for this began to be prepared in January 2010. It aims to provide learning techniques for families and children to begin to cope with their ongoing trauma and the milder symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This project is being run by Mohamed Altawil, Jerry Conway, Simon Kilner, Mary Jennings and Lina Geha (All in picture, left). The first stage of this project is being funded largely by the Quakers in Britain and Ireland. It is also supported by the Focusing Institue (USA). Guidelines for the project can be found here (English) (Arabic). The outline for the Gaza project 2011-2012 can be found here. Notes on the preparation meeting in August 2011 can be found here. The team returned from Gaza on 4th January 2012. Here is Jerry’s first emailed report:
At our meeting with PTC(Gaza) on Tuesday 3rd January 2012, we agreed it would be good to develop a long term strategy for developing Focusing in Gaza and we will look forward to working this up over the next couple of months – keeping in touch by email and Skype. During our visit, we ran a 4 day training course and then spent a day discussing how to move forward with Focusing in Gaza. In all 21 people attended. The local organiser said it had exceeded his expectations and they are keen for us to return to provide more training. PTC (Gaza) plan to get the Focusing group together to support the people who attended in using the skills they have learned.
We come back full of admiration for the Palestinian people and the way they are striving to overcome the difficulties they face. All in all the team found it to be a very rich and rewarding experience.
Jerry Conway.
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