Searching videos
Please Sign In or Create an account
Why is SOMSTARTTS needed?

Why is SOMSTARTTS needed?

Somalia is experiencing internal civil conflicts for over a two decades. The international community attempted to get solution for Somalis problem many times including but not limited to organising and supporting a number of peace reconciliation as well as a number of transitional federal government. But never supported in helping Somalis to deal with the every trauma they are enduring from the every day war and civil unrest, as a result the Somalia Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (SOMSTARTTS), with representation from Somalis in Australia and Kenya, was set up in December 2009 as a non-profit organization to work towards establishing services to support people in Somalia as well as Somali refugees in Kenya with their psycho-social needs.

SOMSTARTTS is registered as a non-profit organization in Australia and is working towards registration in Kenya also. The aim of SOMSTARTTS is initially to provide training for agencies working in Somalia and with Somali refugees living in Kenya to assist them to understand the impact of trauma and provide more appropriate services, and in the longer term to provide direct torture and trauma rehabilitation services in Somalia and to Somali refugees in Kenya.

Target group
i) People in Somalia who have experienced torture and trauma as a result of organised violence.
ii) Somali refugees living in Kenya, both those registered with UNHCR and living in refugee camps, and those living in urban settings.
iii) Organisations and individuals working with Somalis in Somalia and Kenya.

SOMSTARTTS will also seek partnerships with relevant organisations working in Somalia and with Somali refugees in Kenya, for example the Centre for Research and Dialogue (CRD) and the African Rescue Committee. CRD is committed to promoting democracy and consensus decision-making at the policy level by encouraging and supporting the participation of citizens in the affairs affecting their lives, and the African Rescue Committee provides services around the core areas of emergency response, rehabilitation, development and advocacy for Somali refugees in Kenya and Somalia.

SOMSTARTTS is initially seeking funding to carry out an in-depth scoping study. The purpose of this study will be to conduct a needs analysis, establish links with partner and potential partner organisations, map what is already happening on the ground in Somalia and for Somalis in Kenya and how support can be developed to complement current arrangements.

Speakers: Mohamed Baaruud

ISHHR 2012

War and Trafficking: Migrant, trafficked and bonded workers and the business of organ harvesting.

The present-day abuses of migrant labour, human trafficking and bonded labour worldwide deserve long-overdue investigation by business academics into their causes and dynamics. Utilising data from

Group intervention with children

This article aims at reflecting, in the style of a story and not as a scientific or scholarly article, on a group therapy intervention with children of urban slums of Lima, populated by migrants from

The rise of juvenile crime in Georgia

Violence among the adolescents and adolescent delinquency often results in criminal charges and 14-18 year olds end up in the penitentiary facility. By the year 2005 only 26 adolescents were serving sentence in special juvenile facilities; however from 2006 onwards their number has increased drastically. At times the numbers of inmates reached 200, while today 162 juveniles are serving sentence. The rise of juvenile crime has become a debate issue for various groups of the Georgian society – education experts, psychologists, politicians are looking for the reasons of the situation at hand. We attempted a study of the demographic, social and academic profiles of adolescent inmates (the study of the Ministry of Education and Science, 2009), also taking into account our 5-year practice of working with juvenile convicts, which was aimed at supporting their resocialization and future reintegration into the society. In this work we will present a psychosocial portrait of an adolescent in the penitentiary system and consider the particular stress-factors that affect the juveniles and are determined by the specific features of the Georgian criminal subculture. We will also present 5 psychotypes of the adolescents in conflict with the law that were determined by the Freiburg personality test and will try to describe the self perception of the convicts while in confinement and after their sentence is served.

Case studies from GCRT of victims of war and other types of violence

During our work in GCRT for years we attained significant experience in psycho-traumatology. In contemporary concept of psycho-traumatology a human is referred to as a bio-psycho-social being. In trauma, its psychological and physical integrity are infringed. Person: soul and body is one whole, so it's very important to treat a person at every level through holistic and multidisciplinary approach. Our goal is to present cases of our beneficiaries, who were victims of war and other types of violence and developed different kind of psycho-traumatic disorders. We would like to share our experience of treating and rehabilitating body and psyche as one whole. Several cases (rehabilitation process and results) are discussed. In each presented case psycho-traumatic disorders have been diagnosed and confirmed clinically.

Research on trauma brought on by the disappearance of a child

Research on trauma brought on by the disappearance of a child is rare. The aim of our study was to increase understanding of uncertainty's role in the lives of those it affects, to present a narrative structure of the parents' testimonies, and to discern the origin of hope still felt by the parents. Sampling and Methods: Close reading and qualitative analysis of 29 testimonies given by parents whose sons disappeared during the Croatian War for Independence. Gender differences, categories, and frequencies of adjectives used were determined.

Stress factors in post-soviet period 1989-2011

The Collapse of the soviet system caused prolonged political, economical and psychosocial difficulties for the society. On one hand, collapse of totalitarian regime gives opportunity for change and

Justice and reparation: Acompanamiento a los afectados directos y sus faliliares

En esta coyuntura histórica de la realización de los Juicios a los responsables del Terrorismo de Estado de la última dictadura militar argentina, nos proponemos contribuir desde nuestro rol profesional en el acompañamiento a los afectados directos y sus familiares hoy constituidos en testigos y querellantes de estas causas. Desde una perspectiva psicosocial, la magnitud de los traumatismos producidos por la dictadura así como la impunidad posterior, ocasionaron daños profundos que persisten a lo largo del tiempo y a través de las generaciones. La realización de estos juicios, además de la oportunidad concreta de acceder a la condena de los responsables, permite la reelaboración personal y colectiva de lo ocurrido, así como habilita nuevos modelos de inscripción de la memoria histórica. Este escenario plantea nuevos desafíos que requieren complejos y particulares modos de intervención clínica y psicosocial. Se abordarán el dispositivo de acompañamiento psico-jurídico a testigos y querellantes como una de las intervenciones que desarrollamos en el ámbito de los derechos humanos y la salud mental, considerando el papel del testigo y del testimonio, sus aspectos reparatorios y de encuentro con lo traumático.

Recently Added

Defining the concept of spirituality among Filipino counselors and clients.

Sport and physical activity in the treatment of refugee trauma survivors of torture and trauma

Community acceptance of refugees in a new refugee resettlement location, Armidale, NSW

Theme and Variations: The way the Complex Traumatic past becomes the Complex Traumatic present

Long walk to health: Working with the survivors of refugee trauma with a history of early childhood abuse

Limits in Neurofeedback Rehabilitation: What we need to know

Neuro-correlates of the ‘Self’ and Implications for Neuro-psychotherapists