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Good Morning
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Worldwide, over 1.5 billion people
experience armed conflict
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In response, people are forced to flee
their country.
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leaving over 15 million refugees.
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Children without a doubt are
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the most innocent and vulnerable victims.
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But not just from the obvious
physical dangers,
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but from, the often, unspoken affects
that wars have on their families.
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The experiences of war leave children
at real high risk
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for the development of emotional
and behavioural problems.
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Children as we can only imagine,
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will feel worried, threaten and at risk.
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But there is good news,
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the quality of care that children receive
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in their families, can have a
more significant effects
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on their well-being, than from
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the actual experiences of war that
they have been exposed to.
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So actually, children can be protected
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by warm, secure parenting,
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during and after conflict.
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In 2011, I was a first year PHD Student
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in the University Of Manchester
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School Of Physiological Sciences.
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Like many of you here, I watched
the crisis in Syria
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unfold in front of me on the TV.
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My family are originally from Syria,
and very early on
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I lost several family members
in really horrifying ways.
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I sat and I gathered with my family
and watched the TV.
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So we have all seen those scenes,
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bombs destroying, buildings,
chaos, destruction.
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and people screaming and running.
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It was always the people screaming
and running
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that really got me the most.
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Specially those terrified
looking children.
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I was a mother to two young,
typically inquisitive children.
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They were five and six then.
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At an age when they typically
ask lots and lots of questions
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and expect real convincing answers.
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So I began to wonder what it might be like
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to parent my children in a war-zone
and a refugee camp.
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Would my children change?
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Would my daughter's bright happy
eyes lose their shine?
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Would my son's really relax
care-free nature
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become fearful and withdrawn?
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How would I cope?
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Would I change?
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As psychologists and parent's trainers
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we know that arming parents
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with skills and caring for their children
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can have a huge effect on their
well-being.
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We call this parents training.
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So the questions I had
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was could Parent Training programs
be useful for families
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while they're still in war-zones or
refugee camps?
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Could we reach them with
advice or training
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that would help them through
these struggles?
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So, I approached my PHD supervisor,
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professor Rachel Calam,
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with the idea of using my academic skills
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to make some changes in the real world.
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I wasn't quite sure, exactly,
what I wanted to do.
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She listened carefully and patiently,
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And then to my joy,
she said:
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"If that is what you want to do,
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and it means so much to you, then
let's do it.
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Let's find ways to see if
parent programs can be useful
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for families in this contexts."
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So for the past five years myself
and my colleagues,
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professor Calam and Dr. Kim Cartwright
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have been working on ways
to support families
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that have experienced war
and displacement.
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Now, to know how to help
families that have been
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through conflict, support their children,
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The first step must obviously be
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to ask them what are they
struggling with. Right?
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I mean, it seems obvious,
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but often those are the
most vulnerable
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that we are trying to support that
we actually don't ask.
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How many times have we just assumed
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we know exactly the right thing that
is gonna help someone or something
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without actually asking them first.
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So i travelled to the refugee camps
in Syria and in Turkey.
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And I sat with families and I listened.
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I listened to the parenting challenges
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I listened to the parenting struggles
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And I listened to their call for help
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And sometimes that was
just paused
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as all I could was hold hand
with them and just join them
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in silence crying and prayer
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So they told me about their struggles
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They told me about the rough,
harsh refugee camp condition
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That made it hard to focus on
anything but practical chores
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like collecting clean water.
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He told me how they watch their
children withdrawn,
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the sadness, depression, anger
bed-wetting, thumb sucking
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fear of loud noises, fear of nightmares,
terrifying terrifying nightmares.
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These families had been through
what we had been watching on the TV.
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The mothers almost half of them were
now wisdom of the war
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or didn't even know their husbands
were dead or alive,
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described how they thought they
were coping so badly
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They watched their children change
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and they had no idea
how to help them.
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They didn't know how to answer
their children's questions.
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Why I found incredibly
astonishing and so motivational
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was that these families was so
motivated to support their children
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Despite all these challenges they faced
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they were trying to help their children
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they were making attempts at seeking
support from NGO workers
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from refugee camp teachers,
professional medics, other parents.
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One mother I met had only been
account for 4 days
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and had already made two attempts
at seeking support
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for her eight -year-old daughter
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who was having terrifying nightmares.
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But sadly, these attempts are
almost always useless.
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Refugee camp doctors when available
are almost always too busy or
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don't have the knowledge all
the time for basic parenting supports.
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Refugee camp teachers and other
parents are just like them
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part of a new refugee community
who's struggling with units
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So then we began to think
how could we help these families.
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The families were struggling with things
much bigger than they could cope with.
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The Syrian crisis made it clear how
incredibly impossible it would be
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to reach families on an individual level.
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How else could we help them.
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How would we reach families
at a population level and low-cost
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in these terrifying terrifying times.
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After hours of speaking to NGO workers
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one suggested a fantastic innovative
idea of distributing
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parenting information leaflets
by a bread wrappers.
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Bread wrappers that were being
delivered to families
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in a conflict zone in Syria
by humanitarian workers
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So that's what we did
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The bread wrappers haven't changed
at all in their apperance
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except for the addition of two pieces
of paper.
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One was a parenting information leaflet
that had basic advice
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and information that normalizes
the parent
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what they might be experiencing
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and what their child
might be experiencing
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and information on how they
could support themselves
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and their children
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such as information like spending time
talking to a child
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showing them more affection
being more patient with your child
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talking to your children.
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The other piece of paper
was a feedback questionnaire
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and of course there was a pen.
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So is this simply leaflet distribution
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or is it actually possible means of
delivering psychological first aid
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that provides warm secure
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loving parenting.
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We managed to distribute 3000 of these
in just one week.
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was incredible was we had
60-percent response rate
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Sixty-percent of the three thousand
families responded.
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I didn't know how many reasearches
we have here today
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but that kind of response rate
is fantastic
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to have this in Manchester
would be a huge achivement
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Let alone in a conflict zone in Syria
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really highlighting how important
these kind of messages work to families.
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I remember how excited
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and eager we were
for the return of the questionnaires
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the families had left hundreds
of messages
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most incredibly positive encouraging.
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My favorite has got to be
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"Thank you for not forgetting about us
and our children".
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This really illustrates a potential
means of the delivery of psychological
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first aid to families and the return of
feedback too.
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Just imagine replicating this using
other means
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such as baby look distribution
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or female hygiene kits
or even food baskets
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Let's bring this closer to home
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because the refugee crisis is one
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having an effect on every single one of us
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We're bombarded with images
daily of statistics
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and photos
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and that's not surprising
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because by last month
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over 1 million refugees
had reached europe
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1 million refugees are joining
our communities
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They're becoming our neighbors
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their children are attending
our children schools.
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So we've adapted the leaflets to
meet the needs of European refugees
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and we have them online open access
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and areas with a really high
refugee influx.
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For example, the Swedish healthcare
uploaded it
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onto their website
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within the first 45 mintutes
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it was downloaded 343 times
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really highlighting how important it is
for volunteers,
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practitioners and other parents
to have open
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access psychological first aid messages.
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In 2014, I was sitting on the cold
harsh floor of a refugee camp tent
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with mother sitting around me as
I was conducting a focus group
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across from East, an elderly lady
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with what seemed to be a 13-year-old
girl lying beside her,
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with her head on the other ladies knees.
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The girls stayed quiet throughout
the focus group not talking at all
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with her knees curled up
against her chest.
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Towards the end of the focus group
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and as I was thanking the mothers
for their time
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the other lady looked at me while
pointing at the young girl
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and said to me:" Can you help us with?"
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not quite sure what she expected
me to do
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I looked at the young girl and smiled,
in Arabic I said
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(Arabic)
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"What is your name?"
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She looked at me really confused
and engaged
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but then said:"Halluan"
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Halluan is the best name for
the Arabic female name Halla
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and is only really used to refer
to really young girls.
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At that point, I realized that actually
Hallo was probably much
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older than thirteen, it turns out Halla
was a 25-year-old mother
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to three young children
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Halla had been a confident bright
bubby loving caring mother
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to her children.
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But the war had changed all about.
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She had lived through bombs drop
being dropped in her town.
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She had lived through explosions,
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when fighter jets were flying around
their building dropping bombs,
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her children would be screaming
terrified from the noise.
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Halla would frantically grab pillows
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and cover her children's ears to
block out the noise.
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all the while screaming herself
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When they reached the refugee camp
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and she knew they were finally
in some kind of safety,
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she completely withdrew to acting
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like her old childhood self.
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She completely rejected her family,
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her children, her husband.
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Halla simply could no longer cope.
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Now this is the parenting struggle
with a really tough ending
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but sadly, it is not uncommon.
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Those, who experienced armed conflict
and displacement
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will face serious emotional struggles
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and that's something we can
all relate to.
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If you have been through
a devastating time in your life.
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If you have lost someone or something
you really care about.
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How would you continue to cope?
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Could you still be able to care
for yourself and for your family?
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Given that the first years
of child's life are crucial
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for healthy physical and
emotional development.
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And that 1.5 billion people are
experiencing armed conflict.
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Many of whom are now joining
our communities.
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We can not afford to turn a blind eye
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to a need of those who are
experiencing war and displacement.
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We must prioritize these family needs
to those both burn internally displaced
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and those who are refugees worldwide.
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These needs must be prioritized
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by NGO workers, policy makers,
the WHO, the UNHCR
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and every single one of us
in whatever capacity,
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it is that we function in society.
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When we begin to recognize the
individual phases of the conflict.
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When we begin to notice those
intricate emotions on their faces,
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we begin to see them as human too.
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We begin to see the needs
of these families.
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and these are the real human needs.
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When these families needs
are prioritized
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interventions for children
in humanitarian settings
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will prioritize and recognize the
primary role of the family
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in supporting children.
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Family mental health will be
shouting loud and clear
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in global international agenda
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And children will be less likely
to enter social service systems
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and resettlement countries
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because their families would have
had support earlier on
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and we will be more open-minded
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more welcoming, more caring
and more trusting
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to those who are joining
our communities.
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We need to stop wars.
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We need to build a world where
children can dream of planes
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dropping gifts and not bombs.
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Until we stop armed conflicts,
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raging throughout the world, families
will continue to be displaced
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leaving children vulnerable
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but by improving parenting and
caregivers support,
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It may be possible to weaken the links
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between wars and
psychological difficulties
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in children and their families.
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Thank you.