| Volume 58, July '08 |  |
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Chengdu, China.. One month after the catastrophic earthquake that rocked the Sichuan Province of China, Mercy Corps is training local mental health professionals to support the special needs of thousands of children traumatized by the disaster. Mercy Corps has launched two youth psychosocial programs. The first, called Comfort for Kids, combines a basic trauma training workshop with a workbook called "My Earthquake Experience: 5.12 Wenchuan Earthquake." The workbook helps children tell their story about their experience of the earthquake in a safe environment moderated by an adult caregiver. The second program, called Moving Forward, uses sports and games to facilitate discussions of the core themes of constructive communication, self-esteem, resiliency, trust, and team building. "Sports and games create a fun, familiar context for healing in children and youth," said Matt Streng, the agency’s expert in health, youth, and sports, who is on the ground in Chengdu setting up Moving Forward. Consistent with Mercy Corps’ practices worldwide, the Comfort for Kids and Moving Forward programs are being implemented in a sustainable way that builds local capacity. To that end, the strategy has been to conduct "master trainings" to teach people how to train caregivers in the methodology. The caregivers will then practice the methodology with trauma-affected youth. This week’s training was originally planned as a training for 10-20 professionals, but the demand was so great that more than twice as many people crowded the sweltering classroom, perching on stools and sweating without complaint for the duration of the full-day workshop. HOW TO HELP |
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