Cross-cultural Intervention Techniques Post-Tsunami - (Thailand & Sri Lanka) The psychological impact of disaster has an effect on everyone involved, particularly for survivors whom cannot begin to speak of the horror and loss which has devastated most of their lives? What is needed and how do we provide it?
In February and March 2005, I spent time in Thailand and Sri Lanka helping people who had survived the Tsunami. Both areas had been hugely affected and camps had been set up to `house" survivors.
I worked in both camps and schools which had obviously been damaged but where life appeared to be carrying on normally. Is our concept of 3rd world countries and cultures one in which people "pick themselves up" or are they just as susceptible to trauma as us in the west? How effective are the western therapeutic interventions? What variations in techniques may be needed to address the differences?
Many volunteers from various differing cultures, nationalities had arrived to offer help. Working on the edge we all had to be very creative and imaginative to help the survivors. In Thailand a project "Making Waves" was set up and EMDR is being used as a technique to help people back into the water (their greatest fear) . I am returning to Thailand in August and will be following up the people with whom I worked.