Child Care in Practice 10/2

ISSN 1357-5279
VOLUME 10 NUMBER 2
APRIL 2004

Special Issue: Towards a Post-Conflict Society

On this page you can view the full text of the Foreword

Contents

Foreword
Sir Kenneth Bloomfield 83

Education for Peace in Integrated schools: A priority for Northern Ireland?
Claire McGlynn 85

Abstract: Although violence in Northern Ireland has been “neither halted or prevented” (Tomasevski, 2003a, p. 7% few would deny that the scale of the conflict has been reduced. This paper argues that a vital purpose of education in Northern Ireland should be peacebuilding and the promotion of social cohesion. In particular, the paper looks at the lessons that can be learned from integrated education by societies moving out of conflict. As part of a larger study of the impact of integrated (mixed Catholic and Protestant) education, former and current Principals of the two longest established post-primary (for children aged Il—IS) integrated colleges were questioned about the policies and practice employed by their schools with regards to promoting respect for diversity, dealing with cultural symbols and affirming or challenging identity. The potential of integrated education to promote tolerance and understanding is discussed. This paper concludes that the needs of children and society for reconciliation through integrated schooling should perhaps take preference over the rights of parents to segregated education.

Childhood trauma training in the West Bank and Gaza Strip: A field visit report
Mamoun Mobayed 95

Abstract: Post traumatic stress disorder is the psychological reaction to various traumas. It is common among children living in war zones or conflict regions. This paper describes a field visit to train mental health professionals in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on how to help traumatised children.

The treatment of psychological problems experienced by the children of police officers in Northern Ireland
Alastair Black 99

Abstract: This paper will discuss the recent establishment of the Police Rehabilitation and Retraining Trust’s Child and Adolescent therapy Service. This service was set up in response to an expressed need within the police family to provide evidenced-based psychological therapies for child and adolescent psychopathology caused either directly by service-related incidents or indirectly via parental psychopathology. Officers receiving treatment within the Trust’s Adult Psychological Therapies Service frequently expressed distress and guilt regarding the impact their service and related symptoms had on their children. In addition, officers reported a reluctance to utilise existing statutory child and adolescent mental health services.

The impact of the constantly changing political landscape on this population will be examined as the general decrease of an overt terrorist threat allows an opportunity for police families to count the cost the ‘troubles’ have had on their mental health and to assess what support is required. But the uncertainty of what level of covert threat remains continues to impact directly on family life.

This paper will examine the clinical approaches adopted by this specialist service, in particular Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. It will examine how an ongoing and current threat of further trauma impacts on treatment provision and on the establishment of the therapeutic alliance. Primary and secondary stressors unique to this population will be explored, and their impact on treatment, along with how these trauma-related problems might manifest themselves in a variety of disorders.

While the Child and Adolescent Therapy Service exists specifically to provide treatment for police children, the service aims to establish links with statutory services in an attempt to ensure that police families will be able to utilize existing resources, gradually moving away from the feelings of community isolation expressed by some police families.

Bearing witness: Supporting parents and children in the transition to peace
Rosie Burrows & Brid Keenan 107

Abstract: This article seeks to provide a brief overview of group work with parents in two working—class communities (Protestant—Unionist—Loyalist and Catholic—Nationalist— Republican) that have been deeply affected by decades of political conflict in the. North/Northern Ireland, as well as by post-cease fire sporadic, violent political events.

The paper sets out the organisational and community context of the work, the rationale and approach developed for working with parents as well as working in groups, what parents wanted from the work, examples of interventions and, finally, key learning points for workers and organisations in supporting traumatised children, families, and communities.

“We’ll never be the same”, the name of a resource pack to be launched by Barnardo’s in May 2004, was taken from a statement by a young mother in reflecting on changes in herself, her family and community following violent conflict. The resource describes relevant research, group work undertaken, the theoretical model, and key findings on the impact of the conflict, with supporting background papers on a range of themes including trauma and recovery, children and parents/carers, victims and workers, groups and leadership, and finally, community and transformation.

Right to know, UNICEF BiH-Developing a communication strategy for the prevention of HIV/AIDS among young people through participatory action research
Reima Ana Maglajlić & RTK PAR UNICEF BiH Team 127

Abstract: The article describes the process and the findings of a Participatory Action Research (PAR) conducted with young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in 2003, with an aim to develop a communication strategy for the prevention of HI V/AIDS in BiH. The study was initiated and funded as part of a global UNICEF initiative bearing the same name and aims. The process included the development of three youth research teams in three towns in BiH—Sarajevo, Tuzla and Banja Luka, that worked with their peers in their communities with a support from a Head Researcher with PAR experience. The young people developed a prevention strategy that includes peer education in elementary and high schools and co-operation with the media.

Addressing the psychological needs of children and young people in the aftermath of the Omagh Bomb
Maura McDermott, Michael Duffy & Delia McGuinness 141

Abstract: The largest single incident of the Northern Ireland conflict took place in Omagh on 15 August 1998 when a car bomb exploded in the town centre killing 29 people in addition to two children (unborn twins). Four hundred were injured, 135 were hospitalised and 26 families were bereaved. The Community Trauma and Recovery Team was established following the bombing and was operational for almost three years from August 1998 to May 2001. During this period, there were 130 (83 female, 47 male) referals of children and young people under the age of 18 years. Most were referred within the first year of the atrocity, with only 18% referred thereafter. Adolescents accounted for over 60% of those referred. Almost 68% were in town at the time of the explosion, 26% were injured and 18% bereaved. The major diagnostic category (4700) was that of post-traumatic stress disorder, followed by depression (13%) and anxiety (3%). Fifteen per cent had more than one diagnosis. The most common form of intervention available was psychodynamically informed psychotherapy followed by cognitive behavioural therapy. Parents were also seen to provide support and information about the impact of trauma on children and young people and given advice regarding management

The views of young people in Northern Ireland on Anti-sectarianism
Ruth Sinclair, Patrick Cole & Berni Kelly 155

Abstract:This article reports the findings from a series of “Talkshops”—interactive facilitated discussions—undertaken with 114 young people from six secondary schools serving one Latin within Northern Ireland. The young people first met with the researchers in their own schools, then an elected group came together in combined Talkshops and finally a group of six young people, one from each school, met with the researchers to help analyse the data and prepare a presentation on the results. Through the Talkshops the young people explored their views on sectarianism, and the factors they felt helped such attitudes develop; they considered how this impacted on their day-to-day lives and how they had learned to deal with difference. They also considered how things could be different in the future, suggesting ways to promote anti-sectarianism. The article reports the views of the young people, concluding with their summary statement—the message these young people wanted to be heard by adults within Northern Ireland.

“It is important to make the young people of today better informed about the different cultures and beiiefs because it is through ignorance that sectarianism is getting worse, or certainly not getting better. (Young participant at NCB Talkshop)”

A different discription of trauma: A wider systemic perspective - a personal insight
Arlene Healey 167

Abstract: This special edition of Child Care in Practice provides a unique opportunity to reflect on the years since the signing of the Belfast Agreement in 1998 and the period leading up to this. This article offers my personal views based on my experience of working with families affected by the Troubles. As a family therapist I am trained to view matters systematically; at its broadest definition this includes matters of a social, cultural and political nature. The Family Trauma Centre is a community-based treatment service for children, young people and their families. Since its conception in 1998, its development and practice has mirrored many of the political developments that have occurred in our society. I would like to try to capture and consider some of these connections and explore the recursive relationships between political and therapeutic developments. I would also like to include some of the voices of the families we work with. Often it seems their experiences of trauma related to the Troubles is either at best misunderstood or as its worst ignored. This paper seeks to identify with the dilemmas faced by workers and families in view of the ongoing but changed violence in this society, which has continued since the Belfast Agreement. It also considers to what extent we can describe Northern Ireland as a post-conflict society.

When trauma goes on ...
Martin Murphy
Childrens Services Manager, NOVA, Barnardo's (N.I.) 185

Abstract: Supporting the needs of those affected by the conflict in Northern Ireland requires more than just a clinical consideration of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. We need to recognise that for many, the violence and disruption to them, has been all too pervasive and is often still present. This article describes the approach employed by the NOVA service in helping people manage the impacts of specific and continuous traumas.

Working with a child exposed to community and domestic violence in Northern Ireland: An illustrated case example
Stephen Coulter 193
Clinical Coordinator for/Senior Family Therapist, Family Trauma Centre, Belfast, N. Ireland

Abstract: The focus of this paper is on the author’s multi-modal therapeutic practice with a 7-year-old boy referred to the Family Trauma Centre, following paramilitary assaults on his father. The work also addresses the boy’s experience of domestic violence.

The work is contextualized in terms of the “Peace Process” in Northern Ireland, including the establishment of the Family Trauma centre as a response to the needs of victims of the Troubles. A rationale for working with children using a multi-modal approach is presented.

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Foreword

SIR KENNETH BLOOMFIELD KCB

The title of this special edition of the journal is well and carefully chosen. No one who listens to our morning bulletins could believe that our conflicts in Northern Ireland are fully and finally at an end when we hear of punishment beatings or shootings, sectarian or racial harassment and other acts that damage and shame us all. Yet, if we have not, so far, arrived at that ideal state in which all conflict has ceased, we have certainly come a very long way from the atrocities and appalling casualty rates of the 1970s.

Unhappily, however, the consequences of conflict remain with us long after the conflict itself has ceased or diminished. There are few causes more urgent or important than to keep before the public the ongoing need to care in every sense for those who have suffered. My work as Victims Commissioner in 1997-98 — leading to the publication of the report “We will remember them” — alerted me to the dimensions of that need in a quite unforgettable way. I had, previously, as a very senior government official, too readily assumed that our “welfare state”, our complex network of social, health and community services, would be able to respond adequately to any challenge presented by the consequences of “the ‘troubles”. A closer examination and involvement proved this to be sadly untrue. So it was that I argued in my report, and have continued to argue ever since, that there is a role and a need in our system for a standing champion of victims’ rights outside government. ‘Fhis is in no way to question the commitment or achievements of successive ministers, while at the Northern Ireland Office or within the Northern Ireland Executive, who have carried responsibility for victim’s issues. But I do see the need for a fully independent “Champion”.

Although my official role, except in the special and very sensitive area of “the disappeared”, came to an end with the publication of my report iii 1998, I am surprised to find that many people still see me as “The Victims Commissioner”. This is true, not in the sense that I retain any official powers or duties, but in the sense that this is not a cause that can lightly be surrendered. Writing to Mo Mowlani, the secretary of state of the day, when presenting my report I observed: That has indeed proved to be the case, and I am therefore delighted to see the evidence presented in this publication of a great deal of thoughtful analysis of some crucial problems. I am a great believer in sound research and rigorous analysis as the most appropriate foundation for policy and action.

Two themes emerge very clearly from the various papers published here. The first of these is that, although the authors are largely reflecting upon unhappy experiences of Northern Ireland and its conflicts, the human problems presented have an international indeed a universal relevance. Questions about how to educate children in divided societies to love and respect each other, how to eradicate deeply entrenched animosities, how to protect young people from domestic violence or sexual exploitation, have a relevance well beyond our confined boundaries. This international dimension was emphasised for me in December 2001, when I was one of those who met Mr Otunnu, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, during his visit to Northern Ireland.

And of course the second paramount theme is the emphasis on the problems of children. When I carried out my work, 1 was able to draw heavily upon the groundbreaking analysis embodied in the “Cost of The Troubles Study” led by Marie Smyth. Amongst their findings was the striking preponderance of young men among those killed or injured in our conflict, with the inevitable consequence of the exposure to trauma and economic hardship of very many young women and their families. The death of a parent is a sadness in any circumstance, but one can too readily imagine the trauma for a young child in the sudden and violent death of a parent. Moreover, even in families not directly affected by death or injury, a sense of fear and dread is created iii areas constantly exposed to violence and its consequences. Even as I write this, the newspapers are full of accounts of the terrible toll from suicides of young people in Ardoyne.

We need to identify the extent of damage and do all we can to repair it. We need to break, if we can, all ongoing cycle of hatred and disgust of “the other”. How often, in the reporting of cases, do we find that an offender has himself/herself been exposed to the very violence and trauma, which he/she replicates and perpetuates in his/her own criminal acts?

To meet the challenge of our violent recent past, we need an approach that is comprehensive, professional and caring. No one who reads these contributions can fail to be encouraged by the extensive evidence that problems, for too long inadequately acknowledged, arc at last being purposively addressed by concerned people and organisations. But we must keep at it. The wounds of more than 30 years cannot be healed or wished away in the short term. Only a sustained and continuing effort, maintained welt into the future, will enable damaged children to realise their human potential and enrich our society as restored adults, determined to build at last a community that rises above our historic animosities.

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