Good Morning Worldwide, over 1.5 billion people experience armed conflict In response, people are forced to flee their country. leaving over 15 million refugees. children without a doubt are the most innocent and vulnerable victims but not just from the obvious physical dangers, but from, the often, unspoken affects that wars have on their families. The experiences of war leave children at real high risk for the development of emotional and behavioural problems. children as we can only imagine, will feel worried, threaten and at risk. but there is good news. The Quality of care that children recieve in their families, can have a more significant effects on their well-being, than from the actual experiences of war that they have been exposed to. So actually, children can be protected by warm, secure parenting. during and after conflict. In 2011, I was a first year PHD Student in the University Of Manchester School Of Physiological Sciences. Like many of you here, I watched the crisis in Syria unfold in front of me on the Tv. My family are originally from Syria, and very early on I lost several family members in really horrifying ways. I sit and I gathered with my family and watched the TV. So we have all seen those scenes, bombs destroying, buildings, chaos, destruction. and people screaming and running. it was always the people screaming and running that really got me the most. Specially those terrified looking children. I was a mother to two young, typically inquisitive children. They were five and six then. At an age when they typically ask lots and lots of questions and expect real convincing answers. So I began to wonder what it might be like to parent my children in a war-zone and a refugee camp. Would my children change? Would my daughter's bright happy eyes lose their shine? Would my sons' really relax care-free nature become fearful and withdrawn? How would I cope? Would I change? As psychologists and parent's trainers we know that arming parents with skills and caring for their children can have a huge effect on their well-being. We call this parents training. So the questions I had was could Parent Training programs be useful for families while they're still in war-zones or refugee camps? Could we reach them with advise or training that would help them through the struggles? So, I approached my PHD supervisor, professor Rachel Calam, with the idea of using my academic skills to make some changes in the real world. I wasn't quite sure, exactly, what I wanted to do. She listened carefully and patiently, And to my joy, she said: "If that is what you want to do, and it means so much to you, then let's do it. Let's find ways to see if parent programs can be useful for families in this contexts." So for the past five years myself and my colleagues, professor Calam and Dr. Kim Cartwright have been working on ways to support families that have experienced war and displacement. Now, to know how to help families that have been through conflict, support their children, the first step must obviously be to ask them what are they struggling with. Right? I mean, it seems obvious, but often those are the most vulnerable that we are trying to support that we actually don't ask. How many times have we just assumed we know exactly the right thing that is gonna help someone or something without actually asking them first. So i travelled to the refugee camps in Syria and in Turkey. And i sat with families and i listened. I listened to the parenting challenges I listened to the parenting struggles And I listened to their call for help And sometimes that was just paused as all I could was hold hand with them and just join them in silence crying and prayer So they told me about their struggles They told me about the ruffle, harsh refugee camp condition That made it hard to focus on anything but practical chores like collecting clean water He told me how they watch their children with draw the sadness, depression, anger bed-wetting, thumb sucking fear of loud noises, fear of nightmares terrifying terrifying nightmares this families had been through what we had been watching on the TV the mothers almost half of them were now window of the wars or didn't even know their husbands were dead or alive describe how they thought they were coping so badly They watch their children change and they have had no idea how to help them. They didn't know how to answer their children's questions. why I found incredibly astonishing and so motivational was that these families was so motivated to support their children to spice all the challenges they face they'll try to help their children they will making attempt that they can support from