2nd Invitational Conference on
Solidarity For Healing and Recovery
Building a Coalition
for Disaster Health Care in the Middle East
Sunday, July 13
9:00 am – 2:00 pm Eastern Standard Time
An Invitation-Only, Fully Interactive Zoom event
What:
An Invitation-only and Action-oriented Conference intended for:
- Mapping the mental & medical health care landscape for needs and treatment services in Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria.
- Identifying service gaps, specialized skill deficits, staffing deficits, & logistical challenges. As an example, while there is scarcity in all areas of health care, it is generally most pronounced in mental health.
- Expanding local capacity building health care skills training & strategic partnerships with local NGOs to increase needed local services into the future, & support the local health care system
- Providing self-help/coping skills training & materials to the local population to support individual and communal healing, resilience, and empowerment, and to augment treatment services
- Compiling public health education resources geared to Arabic language and culture to raise awareness of health issues, self-care, available services, how to access them, & to counter mental health stigma
- Assessing best practices for evidence-based and culturally appropriate treatment models and methods, particularly in mental health.
- Enlisting more mental health and medical health care providers & skills trainers to expand staffing of participating NGOs and build local capacity for needed services into the future
- Exploring the structure & strategies of a mutually beneficial coalition for maximum buy-in
- Developing mechanisms & practices for maintaining personal connection between key service stakeholders to help build a support community of healers & reduce the sense of isolation.
Who it is for:
- Representatives of existing disaster health care NGO’s providing services in the region
- Treatment providers and skills trainers interested in learning how to become directly involved in offering their skills and time to these humanitarian efforts, whether on-site or virtually.
- Institutions, organizations, and potential donors wishing to support this network.
Services addressed include:
Clinical treatment, local capacity building health care skills training, self-help/resilience building skills training, and public health education.
A Call To Cooperation and Action:
Building on the success and progress made at our 1st Solidarity conference – and in the face of international governmental and large system support for critical humanitarian aid to the region pulling back, and responsibility for providing life-saving services for millions of victims devastated by war and violence throughout the region increasingly falling on the shoulders of local and international humanitarian aid NGOs struggling to respond to the crisis – this initiative continues to move forward in planning strategies and mechanisms for creating, implementing, and sustaining a coalition of disaster health care NGOs to better fill the widening gap in the short and long term.
The immediate problem being addressed through this joint coalition initiative effort is the magnitude of the need, the overwhelming challenges of any one NGO attempting to realistically do this alone, and the practical advantages, strengths, and necessity of working together in solidarity.
The structure of this working conference is for action planning:
Facilitated dialogue and deliberation are the essential engines of the conference to maximize the sharing of information and expertise, and concrete preparation leading to practical outcomes, and strategic cooperation between disaster health care NGOs.
A further valued purpose of these meetings voiced throughout our 1st event is providing a virtual meeting space for maintaining connection between key service stakeholders during this difficult, stressful, and often draining work to help build a support community of healers and reduce the sense of isolation.
This is a free, fully interactive, and invitation-only Zoom event
organized by Common Bond Institute (CBI) and International Humanistic Psychology Assoc. (IHPA), with the cooperation of Michigan State University (MSU).
Those who qualify under one of the above participant categories and are interested in joining the conference can contact:
Steve Olweean, Director, Common Bond Institute at:
SOlweean@aol.com or Cell/WhatsApp: 1-269-501-5453
Opportunities for
Professional Volunteer and Internship/Field Placements