Reframing War Trauma

Incorporating a Community/Structural
Approach to Frontline Healing Modalities
Hamid Mousa Community Developer
Ottawa Police Service
Mignon Mildenberger MSW, RSW
Hunt Club/Riverside Community Services Centre
War Trauma Initiative
An introduction…

Given the recent conflicts in various parts of the world
and the fact that there is a large ethnic population in
Ottawa with connections to areas affected, many
community members are dealing with the stress of war
trauma by re-living their own past, or by worrying about
family members still living in the war zone

This is causing increased stress and anxiety and
greatly affecting the family unit
War Trauma Initiative
Hunt Club/Riverside Community Services Centre, on
behalf of an advisory group of Community Developers
from the Coalition of Community Health and Resource
Centres of Ottawa and the Arabic Speaking Service
Providers Network, is pleased to have this opportunity
to introduce an initiative that will serve to address the
specific needs of Ottawa’s newcomer population, and
particularly those who have been impacted by war
trauma.
War Trauma Initiative
What is it?



An innovative community project which defines the
need for the creation of a holistic healing process
An initiative which addresses the specific needs of a
newcomer population living in Canada and has been
deployed by an advisory group from various
community organizations
A progressive community initiative designed to build
awareness of the psychosocial needs of individuals
who are impacted by war trauma
Purpose Of Initiative

A progressive initiative should entertain the notion
of a public…as well as a private aspect of
mourning.
Whiting and James (2006)

What cannot be talked about cannot be put to rest.
And if it is not, the wound will fester from
generation to generation.
Yael Danieli, Clinical Psychologist
Organizational Barriers

Many not-or-profit organizations, including immigrant
settlement agencies (ISA), face a variety of barriers to
fully implementing change for most marginalized

Mainstream social service agencies have yet to enter
into more enhanced and complex partnerships with ISA
, share resources, extant strengths and social capital,
in order to find holistic and sustainable ways to help
newcomers to ‘grow’ into their community and sense of
personal agency
Organizational Barriers

Traditional psychoanalytic models of bereavement
theories tend to permeate social services, and indeed,
most systemic or institutional helping processes
Our Changing Demographic

Currently 80% of immigrants come from the Middle
East, Africa, Asia and the Pacific region.

Translated--the vast majority of immigrants are people
of colour and are a principal source of labour force
growth.
Canadian Labour Congress
Immigrant Contributions?

2005: Strategic Counsel conducts revealing survey.
The Issue: What is the public perception of the
contribution immigrants make to Canada?

40% of those surveyed expressed the view that
immigrants from some countries “make a bigger and
better contribution than others.”
Color-coded perceptions

The breakdown is disturbing – almost 80% claim that
European immigrants make a positive contribution
…with the number falling to 59% for Asians; 40% for
East Indians; and plummeting to 33% for those from
the Caribbean.
Reframing current processes…

Step-up outreach and integration initiatives with these
communities

Improve linkage on key issues

Examine and eradicate systemic organization barriers
Canadian Labour Congress
Issues as we see them:

Recognition of internalized racism (understood as the
acceptance of attitudes, beliefs or ideologies by
members of stigmatized ethnic. racial groups, about
the inferiority of their own group)--must become a
critical factor in healing applications within most
institutional arrangements
Issues as we see them:

The incorporation of ‘racism” as a social determinant of
health, (in order to allow for a more critical
understanding of its nature/influence)

At the same time, a necessary consideration of how
current meaning/descriptions of ‘social determinants’
have been constructed within Canadian/north/western
context
Issues as we see them:

How best to intervene with trauma and racism issues in
frontline work (whether it be law enforcement, health
care or social services), and considering multiapplications (e.g. alongside PTSD and general health
and well being and health literacy issues)

How do we move beyond the suffering of war trauma
and how do we address the confluence of war trauma
with issues of systemic racism?
Issues as we see them:

The issue of “forbidden trauma” where individuals or
groups are unable to speak of their trauma in their
present day communities--without a process or forum
for testimony and witness, validation, or collectivation

The critical need to develop relevant training, or
educational workshops (e.g. border and immigration
officials)—and particularly if tied to health and wellbeing issues as a more easily accessible point of entry
(during standardization/policy making)
Issues as we see them:
Further accessibility may occur also during specifically
oriented mentoring programs, skills building or
workshop training or staff building
exercises/engagement
A Counseling Perspective

Helping processes must describe the way in which
immigrants are faced with racist institutional and
systemic societal practices in their new home...
...While at the same time decrying the need for the
application of a psychosocial or community approach
to healing and amelioration of individual well-being
A Counseling Perspective

The literature surrounding restorative justice and
reconciliation processes continues to expand its
reference to ‘cultural bereavement’ and ‘betrayal
trauma’ and, in fact, the tremendous variance of the
effects of all traumas
A Counseling Perspective

An innovative approach to holistic helping speaks to
the impact of a range of factors and diversity variables,
often not addressed in conventional clinical counseling
practice and theory--factors such as family, personality
and cultural background, and the nature of an
individual’s relationship to a lost object or identity
Whiting and James (2006)
New Hope
“The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit;
to choose our better history; to carry forward that
precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from
generation to generation: the God-given promise
that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a
chance to pursue their full measure of happiness”
Barack Obama
References
Clemans, S. (2005). A Feminist Group for Women Rape Survivors. Social Work with
Groups. 28(2). 59-64. Retrieved from
http://ww2.olc.edu/jolson/socialwork/OnlineLibrary/Clemans,%202005;%20A%20fe
Labonte, R. “Social Exclusion and Health: Dancing the Dialectic.” Social Determinants
of Health: Canadian Perspectives. Ed. Raphael, D. Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press Inc., 2004. 253265.
Mitchell, A., & Shillington, R. (2002). Poverty, Inequality and Social Inclusion. The Laidlaw Foundation
Working Paper Series. Retrieved from www.laidlawfdn.org.
Omidvar. R. & Richmond, T. (2003). Immigrant Settlement and Social Inclusion in Canada. The
Laidlaw Foundation Working Paper Series. Retrieved from www.laidlawfdn.org
References
Women’s Health Centre, St. Joseph’s Health Centre. Counseling Across Difference:
Models of Intervention to Women in a Multicultural Context. Eds. Priego, A., Mancewicz, G., Ponic, B.,
Chan,C.2005 Retrieved from http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/depts/aecdcp/CMPConf/papers/WHC.html
Palmary, I (2005) Engendering Wartime Conflict: Women and War Trauma. The Centre
for War and Violence Studies. 1-72. Retrieved from
http://www.idrc.ca/uploads/user-S/11558421111Women_and_war_trauma.pdf
Labonte, R. “Social Exclusion and Health: Dancing the Dialectic.” Social Determinants
of Health: Canadian Perspectives. Ed. Raphael, D. Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press Inc., 2004. 253-265.
Psychosocial and Trauma Response in War-Torn Societies: The Case of Kosovo.
Psychosocial Notebook. Vol.1. Eds. C. Becker, C. Pillon (200O). The
International Organization for Migration. Retrieved from http://w ww. forcedmig ration.
org/psychosocial/papers/Wider Papers/iom_ notebook
Psychosocial and Trauma Response in War-Torn Societies: Supporting Traumatized
Communities Through Arts and Theatre.Psychosocial Notebook. Vol.3. Eds.
M. Losi, S. Reisner and S. Salvatici (2003). The International Organization for Migration. Retrieved from http://
www. Forced migration. org/psychosocial/ papers/WiderPapers/iom_notebook