The Red Pencil brings the power of creative arts therapy around the world to individuals, both children and adults, who have been through adverse life circumstances, for which they have no words.
This is a guide designed to help the reader to understand more about PTSD. As well as a description of trauma, symptoms of PTSD, and effective treatments, this guide explores key maintenance factors for PTSD including: unprocessed memories, beliefs about trauma and its consequences, and coping strategies including avoidance. Written in a friendly and explanatory way, this guide is a comprehensive source of information for those with PTSD (and their friends and family). The concepts are explained in an easily digestible manner, with case examples and accessible diagrams. Arabic and English .
The links below provide mental health information in Arabic. These documents – easy to download – are intended for individuals interested in learning more about mental health and ways of improving emotional well being.
This training material has been written for the many individuals who provide assistance and support to women who survive gender-based violence (GBV) and sexual trauma during disasters, wars and conflicts. We hope it may be helpful as well to those who work with gender-based violence in other settings. A number of manuals and guidelines address different and important aspects of GBV, including its prevention, the education of men and boys, and GBV in emergency settings. An overview of the most important contributions to this field can be found on page 2 (GBV in a wider context). The goal of this manual is to fill a gap by providing more information on the effects of GBV on mental health, and how to use this knowledge when engaging with survivors of GBV. Our hope is that the training will guide and assist helpers in the important work they do. In particular, we hope it will help trainers to identify and understand reactions to trauma, and deal with the different immediate and long term responses that women display after they experience traumatic events. Arabic, English
This well being guide is for individual self-care, and for peers and teams who work together. Each section can be tested or incorporated within regular meetings with a focus on caring for the carers. Humanitarians and people working in helping professions need to take care of themselves in order not to burn out and to be effective in their work. The exercises in this guide are for all humanitarian staff, volunteers and for recipients of mental health and psychosocial support services. If practised and used regularly, this catalogue of tried and practised tools can regulate stress, calm when distressed, promote sleep, and strengthen inner resilience. This guide is available in Ukrainian, Arabic, Portuguese, Bosnian and French.
The Psychological First Aid Training Manual for Child Practitioners (PFA) was developed by Save the Children Denmark for the Child Protection Initiative, to facilitate training in psychological first aid with a focus on children. It is aimed at developing skills and competences that will help child protection staff reduce the initial distress of children who have recently been exposed to a traumatic event. The training targets Save the Childrens staff, partners, and professionals such as teachers, educators, health and social workers etc., and volunteers working directly with children in emergencies or in the aftermath of conflicts, natural disasters and critical events. It is available in Arabic. English, French and Spanish.
The PFA II, Dealing with traumatic responses in children manual provides guidance for staff working with children who are severely affected psychologically by acute crisis. It is not a clinical tool and does not in itself qualify staff to engage in clinical interventions. Save the Children’s Psychological First Aid Training for Child Practitioners, which is currently being rolled out in several regions, lays the foundation for providing PFA as a basic psychological support. The manual is available in both English and Arabic.
The PFA one-day programme manual is a condensed psychological first aid training based on the original two-day Psychological First Aid Training for Child Practitioners. It builds on adaptations of this manual in Japan, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. This training offers child practitioners skills and competencies to reduce the initial distress of children caused by accidents, natural disasters, conflicts, and other critical incidents. The program is available in both English and Arabic.
Based in Geneva, HURIDOCS is an NGO that since 1982 supports human rights defenders use information technologies and documentation methods to organize and present data about violations. We are passionate about providing NGOs with the simplest and most efficient tools and techniques to advocate for their cause. Our team working in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe understands the specific challenges of each of these contexts.
These guidelines reflect the insights of practitioners from different geographic regions, disciplines and sectors, and reflect an emerging consensus on good practice among practitioners. The core idea behind them is that, in the early phase of an emergency, social supports are essential to protect and support mental health and psychosocial well-being. In addition, the guidelines recommend selected psychological and psychiatric interventions for specific problems. The guidelines include key activities for the campaign such as advocacy events, developing plans of action, coordination tools and checklist to identify gaps. It also includes key messages and ideas for implementation to communities, governments, donors, UN organizations and NGOs. The guidelines is translated to 14 differe3nt languages and can be used as:
1) A guide for programme planning and design
2) Advocacy for better practice
3) Resource for interventions or actions
4) A coordinating tool
5) Checklist to identify gaps
A Comparative Analysis of Legislative and Preventative Tools in the Netherlands,France, the United Kingdom, and Austria, Every year, 3 million girls and women are subjected to the harmful traditional practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Worldwide, the number of girls and women who have undergone this practice is estimated to lie between 100 and 150 million. FGM is not only an important issue in Africa, the Middle-East, and Asia where it has been traditionally practised, but due to the arrival of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers from these countries to the West, to Europe, North America, and Australia, FGM has also become a Western concern.
Humanitarian organizations today are more professionally managed and better equipped and prepared than years ago. However direct exposure to misery, the ever-growing numbers of people affected by humanitarian crises, deteriorating safety and security conditions, and limited available resources mean that humanitarian workers remain exposed to a wide variety of sources of stress. Good staff care and psychosocial care have proven to be an important asset in stress management and the prevention and treatment of traumatic and post-traumatic stress. However, although there is awareness of these issues in most organizations, adequate care systems for national and international staff are often underdeveloped and lack attention and resources. This guideline is both in English and Arabic.
Children are particularly at risk of harm and ill-treatment resulting from deprivation of liberty, a situation which is clearly recognized in international standards. This Handbook sets out the relevant provisions of the human rights standards that apply to monitoring places of detention for children, and provides guidance on implementing these in practice. PRI has a long experience in assisting states to implement international standards in the field of penal reform and juvenile justice and is well-placed to provide this expert guidance.
The victims seen at the centre are victims of the Lebanese war and of power abuse in Lebanon and the region. Victims are identified and participate with their families in programmes of treatment for survivors of torture and violence.
Understanding the modem use of torture entails the dispelling of myths about its nature and purpose. There remains a perception that torture is practiced randomly, that it is punishment carried to an extreme, that it is performed by psychopaths or sadists, that it exists outside of governmental responsibility and is practiced by “less civilized” societies.
Rehabilitation center for victims of torture in Lebanon.