Chechen Republic: Slowly the psychological scars are beginning to heal
By Elena Kharitonova, The impact of conflict and loss of lives have made a deep psychological impact on children in parts of the North Caucasus. In Chechnya, UNICEF is supporting a psychosocial recovery programme to help children heal the physical and psychological wounds of war. “Psychological problems are often more harmful than physical problems,” explains UNICEF Project Officer, Aida Ailarova. Aida coordinates the Psycho-social Recovery Programme of UNICEF in Russia’s North Caucasus republics. To illustrate her point, Aida cites the case of 16-year-old Malika (not her real name) who lost her leg in a mine explosion several years ago and had been living under terrible stress since. Everybody had hoped normality could return for her when she finally received her prosthetics. But the psychological shock she had experienced was not addressed and the trauma became deeply-rooted and lasting. The provision of prosthetics was not enough to help Malika make a full recovery from the explosion and sadly, she died just two months later. “We need to understand that psycho-social consequences of conflict cannot be left without proper attention. It is an issue that must be addressed immediately and continuously,” reiterates Aida. A UNICEF-supported research among 1,500 Chechen children published in December 2006 shows how seriously children are affected by the conflict. Consider these:
In late 2005, UNICEF started a large scale psychosocial rehabilitation programme for Chechen children. Since then 14 psychosocial rehabilitation centres have been established in seven districts. 20 more are being planned for 2007 to cover all of Chechnya’s 17 districts. The target is to have two centres in each district: a school centre and a rehabilitation centre. The school centre will focus on the day-to-day monitoring of the children’s psychological state and provision of psychosocial services by trained psychologists. Children with acute problems will be referred to the rehabilitation centres for professional psycho-therapeutic care. The children’s families will also be involved in the therapy sessions. “The lack of qualified professionals is a major issue for us,” said Aida. “For example, many children in Grozny suffer from stuttering or other speech disorders but there is only one speech therapist in the whole city.” To address this issue UNICEF has engaged leading psychotherapists from Israel and Saint-Petersburg to train 50 psychologists in the republic. The training includes school and trauma counselling. “The project has shown the vital importance of this work and has enlisted the support of the government and specialists in the republic. This gives us hope that we will be able to help the children of Chechnya overcome the heavy consequences of conflict and come back to normal life,” said Aida Ailarova. -7 January 2007 The UNICEF programme in the Chechen Republic has developed from the experience of a psycho-social recovery programme for those affected by the Beslan tragedy. In collaboration with the Chechen authorities, a Psychosocial Steering Committee has been created. The Committee includes the Deputy Prime Minister of Chechnya, the Ministers of Education, Health, Labour and Social Development and members of the Chechen Parliament. International non-governmental organisations (NGO) including World Vision, the Danish Refugee Council, and local NGO SERLO also participate in the Steering Committee’s activities.
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