Emergency educational trauma therapy in regions affected by war and catastrophes

Every year millions of children and young adults are confronted with traumatic experiences. Virtually all of them have to come to grips with these experiences and memories without any external help. Thereby it is known that traumatic experiences that are not successfully treated, still impact the individuals for years to come, and that the children and juveniles then suffer from severe symptoms which sustainably hamper their development.

The emergency education of the Friends of Waldorf Education endeavours to aid traumatised children and juveniles in regions affected by war and catastrophes and, by employing educational measures, they try and help the children and juveniles to work through their traumatic experiences, so as to mitigate or counteract post-traumatic stress disorders. Thus, the psycho-social stabilisation of the affected persons who have suffered in the wake of natural catastrophes or military conflicts, stands in the centre. The concept of emergency education is based on Waldorf educational methods and related forms of therapy. These methods include elements of painting and drawing therapy, experiential and circus education, plastic-therapeutic design and many others.

So as to succeed in creating sustainable structures for stabilising the children and juveniles in the long-term, the emergency educational intervention, which normally last two weeks, involves the integration of local specialists, who are also trained in carrying out the emergency educational measures. This advanced education consists of theoretical elements which are supplemented by practical exercises, so that the individual methods can subsequently come alive in the course of self-awareness situations.

An additional primary element of emergency education is the work that is done with the parents. Frequently they are likewise traumatised by the effects of human violence inflicted upon them, such as in the case of war or due to the impacts of natural catastrophes. By means of psycho-education, they are afforded the opportunity of talking to trained experts about their experiences. What is more, the counselling sessions also have the objective of creating understanding for the behavioural changes of their children, which arise as a result of the traumatic experiences, and they are able to point out possible options on how to deal with this, as many parents themselves also feel helpless after having experienced traumatic situations.

Emergency education since 2006

After an encounter with war-traumatised children and juveniles in a refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, the association developed a comprehensive concept for emergency education in 2006. The violence inflicted by humans on the one hand, and the refugees who were severely traumatised by the war in Lebanon on the other, gave rise to the very first pilot project of the Friends of Waldorf Education. In so doing, emergency education evolved to become another major pillar of the scope of work of the association, apart from project promotion and the international voluntary services. Since this first project, there have been numerous crisis response operations in regions afflicted by war and catastrophes, such as in China, Gaza, Indonesia, Haiti, Kyrgyzstan and Japan.