 PROJECTS
May 1998 Assessment Trip, The Republic of Georgia
In May 1998, supported in part by a travel grant from IREX, Dr. Volkan (CSMHI Director), Dr. J. Anderson Thomson (CSMHI Assistant Director) and Dr. Yuri Urbanovich (CSMHI International Scholar) traveled to Georgia to immerse themselves in and assess the psychopolitical climate and societal realities in Georgia, particularly relating to internally displaced persons (IDPs). The CSMHI team conducted in-depth interviews with a wide variety of people including IDPs, psychologists, teachers, government officials, university professors, students, writers, historians, and NGO representatives. The team visited refugee hotels outside Tbilisi and in Gori and traveled to Tskhinvali, South Ossetia to meet with psychologists, teachers and children at a youth center there, the Tskhinvali Youth Palace. In particular, CSMHI conducted a series of therapeutic interviews with several members of one Georgian IDP family, referred to here as the Balanchivadze family. The team planned to meet with this family on each visit to Georgia to learn more about their adaptation to their situation, and to see whether infrequent visits from caring outsiders could have a positive effect. In these interviews, the CSMHI team used both clinical and psychopolitical insights to uncover some of the unspoken anxieties of these IDPs and to help them develop ways of dealing with their difficult status. CSMHI's partners from FDHR also participated and learned from these interviews. The team also visited homes and government offices, gave lectures at Tbilisi State University, and participated in the Noe Jordania International Conference on Georgia and the Caucasus, which had gathered scholars from around the world in Tbilisi to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Georgia's first period of independence.
During this visit, CSMHI formalized its partnership with FDHR and held several intense meetings with its core group. FDHR has had over two-years' experience in psychosocial rehabilitation of IDPs and refugees and undertakes both emergency and long-term intervention. Their work has been funded for the past several years by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Tbilisi. In addition to working with Georgian IDPs near Tbilisi and in the Zugdidi region, FDHR has initiated a joint program with South Ossetian counterparts who do psychosocial rehabilitation with children and youth in South Ossetia. This collaboration is focused primarily on helping children recover from the trauma and preventing them from becoming carriers of ethnic enmity.
Projects
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