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Social Health Care
Center for Healing, Recovery, and Renewal
Common Bond Institute (CBI), Michigan State University (MSU) and
International Humanistic Psychology Association (IHPA)
Amman, Jordan ~ www.cbiworld.org/service/
A pilot program based on a scalable model for
recovery, resettlement, and successful integration
of refugees in the Middle East
Location: Amman, Jordan, 40 apartment facility dedicated to housing refugee families.
Service Recipients: A community of 40 families composed of Syrian Refugee widows and their children housed in an apartment complex managed by supportive staff 24/7.
Make Up of Population: The entire 40 apartment facility is a center specifically dedicated to serving refugee widows and their children. As families move out others on a waiting list are admitted. As a result the characteristics, needs, and challenges of the resident population remain consistent.
Program Model: A comprehensive community mental health based service and intentional supportive community within a positive, stable, residential environment, designed to meet multiple and interrelated needs of refugees essential to psychosocial recovery, self-empowerment, and successful integration – both individually and as a community. The program is based on CBI’s 25+ years of local capacity building in developing societies located in regions of conflict where resources are limited. Services are culturally sensitive, address the whole person, and help recipients to become increasingly stable, skilled, capable, and self-sufficient, and to gradually take on increasing self-responsibility, individually and as a community.
Services are integrated into CBI’s local capacity building psychosocial training program, equipping local trainees with professional psychosocial treatment skills to create a growing pool of local service providers dedicated to assisting refugees and under-served citizens of Jordan and Lebanon. Through this program trainees assist professional mental health staff in regularly providing free services to the center as part of their field training experience (see description of the training program here: www.cbiworld.org/home/training/).
Non-professional apartment management staff receive training in basic supportive listening, crisis intervention, and coping skills to allow them to work closely with psychosocial staff and trainees, and for their own self-support
Wherever possible refugee community members are included in skills training to become service providers, with the eventual goal of increasing responsibility for services being taken on by the recipient community, rather than being primarily provided by those from outside the community. This is seen as essential to resilience building, renewed dignity, and recovery from communal trauma, disempowerment, destabilization, and victim identity. As a result services are designed to continually grow, develop, and be sustainable.
Need / Service areas addressed are:
1) Safe and adequate quality housing in a positive, supportive environment,
2) Psycho-social treatment,
3) Coping, self-help, and daily living skills training
4) Medical and Dental treatment
5) Educational, (including basic education and English as a 2nd language)
6) Vocational training and Employment preparation
7) Spiritual and cultural expression and support,
8) Community rebuilding, resilience, empowerment, and mutual support: Ex: cultural expression and
cohesion activities, leadership, community representation and input, youth engagement, empowerment and confidence building, social-recreational, mentoring (includes preparation as a “self-help community” One example is training residents as peer aides with title of: Community Service Workers)
9) Basic psycho-social skills training for apartment building management staff
CBI’s large international network of professionals, groups, and organizations contribute expertise and service time to this effort. The project also taps into local community service organizations and supportive structures for assistance. Grants and donations support basic material needs of the project.
Future Goals: The project model is designed to be replicated, portable, and scalable, and to operate in situations where there are limited resources, with possible applications to serve refugees in Europe.
Description of various components and functions of the Center
A) Direct Client “Services” to Center Residents:
(As described in the 1-page program description
provided earlier) Services include:
1) Safe and adequate quality housing in a positive, supportive environment.
2) Psycho-social treatment.
3) Coping, self-help, and daily living skills training.
4) Medical and Dental treatment.
5) Educational, (including basic education and English as a 2nd language).
6) Vocational training and Employment preparation
based on the self-help community model
7) Community rebuilding, resilience, empowerment,
and mutual support: Ex: cultural expression and
cohesion activities, leadership, community representation and input, youth engagement, empowerment and confidence building, social-recreational, mentoring (including preparation as a “self-help community” One example is training residents as peer aides with title of: Community Service Workers and progressively bringing them into the service delivery system).
8) Basic psycho-social and coping skills training for building management staff, for their own personal benefit and to help them better communicate with and assist residents.
Who Provides Direct Client Services
1) Social Health Care (SHC) expert treatment and
training faculty (from CBI and MSU). CBI faculty includes professional team members in Jordan.
2) Local SHC Trainees and SHC graduates provide services on-going as part of their official field training experience, under the direct supervision of the SHC treatment and training faculty. SHC maintains a continual pool of trainees.
3) Mental health, medical, & education interns who use the site for field experience under supervision of both SHC faculty and their university faculty.
4) Para-professional building management staff who are trained, supervised, and guided in basic support, intervention, and facilitation skills by SHC treatment and training faculty.
Where the service takes place:
At the residential Center.
B) Local Capacity Building Psychosocial “Training”
Preparing local professional and paraprofessional service providers to continue and expand services to residents and the refugee community in general.
1) Continuation and expansion of the ongoing SHC
psycho-social skills training program
.( www.cbiworld.org/home/training/shc/ )
This training consists of:
[A] On-site training intensives in Jordan:
[B] Live 2-way virtual training classes: 2 X per wk.
[C] Supervised Clinical field work experience working in our Disaster Health Care Field Clinics conducted in Jordan and at the Center:
( www.cbiworld.org/home/training/shc/clinics/ )
2) Creation of a 2 semester, 900 clock hour
Certified Diploma program in Clinical Social Work. This is in partnership with Yarmouk University, CBI, and MSU. It is approved by the Jordanian Ministry of Higher Education and housed at the Queen Rania Center in Yarmouk University in Irbid, Jordan. The Diploma program is an on-going training program repeated each year. The 1st class begins Sept. 2016.
The classes take place at Yarmouk University and the Center, and the field experience takes place at the residential Center
( www.cbiworld.org/home/training/diploma/ )
* This is a step toward also creating the formal academic MA degree program in Jordan:
3) Planned practical MA program in Community
Mental Health – a 45 credit hour professional academic degree designed to produce a growing local pool of trained professional psychosocial service providers. This is in partnership with Middle East University (in Amman, Jordan), CBI, and MSU. Target start date is Sept. 2017.
Who are trained through these programs as psychosocial direct service providers:
Local students, NGO staff, graduates of mental
health related degree programs who lack the
practical internship, humanitarian relief workers,
& appropriate members of the refugee community.
Where the psychosocial training takes place:
1) SHC classes occur in training classrooms
located in the residential Center facility itself.
2) Diploma and MA degree classes occur both at the
university and the residential Center.
3) Field work for all trainees occurs in the residential
Center facility – providing direct services to the residents, as well as at other locations in Jordan serving the same refugee population.
C) Research, evaluation, & reporting of the project:
Conducted on-going by a team of experienced research professionals, including researchers and evaluators based in the US, Jordan, and Lebanon.
D) Overall, the residential Center facility houses
these activities:
1) Housing, meals, housekeeping facilities, and
recreation areas for residents and building staff.
2) All above listed Direct Client Services and service
rooms.
3) SHC training classes
(for both on-site and virtual classes)
4) Field work activities for all trainees
5) Service and training equipment, materials, and
supplies