Contact:
Trevor Fox
573-882-5660
[email protected]
Teachers and mental health professionals from across the country and around the world will be in Columbia, Mo. this week to learn more about caring for young victims of war and school violence. The fourth annual Training Course in Trauma Psychology and International Conference on Working with Traumatized Children and Families, held by the International Center for Psychosocial Trauma of the University of Missouri-Columbia, begins Monday, July 12 and runs through Saturday, July 17.
Because of the shortage of mental health professionals in many areas the goal of the course is to teach participants skills to take back to their home areas to use and teach to others. According to Arshad Husain, MD, Psychiatrist and director of the International Center for Psychosocial Trauma, the goals of the training are to make the knowledge and skills needed to help traumatized children available to any and all who can use them.
ìMuch like the American Heart Association did in making knowledge of CPR commonplace, we are working to get this knowledge into the hands of teachers and others who can use it to help children in need,î said Husain. ìJust as anyone can be trained to recognize and respond to a heart attack, they also can be trained to recognize and respond to the needs of a traumatized child. Having a natural affinity for working with children, teachers have been some of the first individuals we have targeted for training.î
Amongst this yearÃs participants will be a group of teachers and psychiatrists from Kosovo. These 10 individuals were chosen by Husain and his colleagues during a recent training mission to Albania. They will be on hand to obtain more extensive training to build upon what they learned from Husain during his recent visits to that area.
Although participants from Kosovo will attend to learn skills useful in counseling young victims of war, this yearÃs conference will place a heavy emphasis on giving teachers and other professionals the proper tools to deal with problem of school violence.
ìThe trauma psychology we teach is particularly relevant to the problem of school violence,î said Husain. ìTrauma is not only a result of violence in schools but is also commonly a cause. It is important to instruct teachers how to recognize and react to these children who are at risk of causing a violent episode.î
The training course begins July 12 and will be held at University Hospital in room MA 615. The conference begins July 16 and will be held in Memorial UnionÃs Jesse Wrench Auditorium. Members of the media are invited to attend. -30-
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