Project: Hamburg
Outpatient Clinic for Refugee Children Hamburg
Project start: 1998
Target Group: Refugee Children and their families living in Hamburg.
Programs: Child and Adolescent Psychiatric and Psychotherapeutic Diagnostic and Therapy, Inpatient treatment and Art Therapy, Counseling, Supervision and Training.
Aims: Around 600 Children from Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia or West Africa have received treatment in Hamburg so far. They experienced War, Civil War and other forms of violence (death of parents). They lived under poor circumstances before and during their flight. In Exile they often suffer from legal uncertainty, Insecurity, adjustment pressure and marginalization. Parents use different coping strategies to deal with the psychological impact of the experiences in the past, those impact the child’s experience and behavior, even if the child has only been born in exile. Supporting the psychological reconstruction to allow the children to develop and participate in social processes of reconciliation is the aim of the treatment.
Outpatient unit for refugee children
The special outpatient unit for children’s psychiatry and psychotherapy treats refugee children from all over the world and their families. The majority of patients are from Afghanistan, southern European and West-African countries.
Using both individual and family-orientated therapy cases of severe mental and emotional disorders in children, young adults and families are treated. In very severe cases, inpatient and semi-inpatient treatment are preferrable. Thanks to the financial support of the foundation, the number of patients receiving treatment nearly doubled during 1999 and 2000.
This is Driton’s story:
“All the people from the village were driven together,
then we fled in a convoy. Dead bodies, wounded people
and tanks were everywhere. My older brother had protected me
the whole time, but suddenly the Serbs pulled him aside
and shot him. I’m going to be a soldier when I grow up
and then I’ll kill all the Serbs.”
Driton, the boy in the story, is a patient in Hamburg. It was a long time before he was actually able to attend therapy sessions without his mother being present and talk about his experiences, feelings, dreams.
Patient and therapists succeeded in building a trusting relationship using his drawings to approach subjects he kept deep inside himself and, with the help of an interpreter, pursued these topics. It was evident that the war and the traumatic experiences Driton had gone through had robbed him entirely of a carefree youth and hindered his further development.
Following the separation from his father and the death of his brother he wanted to be strong, fearing at the same time the reality of not being able to fulfill what seemed to be expected of him. Nor was his family in any position to provide the protection and support he needed at his age. Discussing his drawings ultimately brought to light the concrete fears he had kept inside. As time went on, he learned to deal with his fears.
Following extensive therapy Driton was even able to play by himself again. However, it will be a long time before he is able to reduce the anxiety and fears which overwhelm him from time to time to a bearable degree.
Hallo liebe Stefanie,
es hat mich sehr bewegt, hier über die Arbeit in Hamburg lesen zu dürfen und ich kann nur sagen, dass man fühlen kann, mit wie viel Engagement und Liebe hier gearbeitet wird. Es ist wirklich eine ganzheitliche Friedensarbeit, für die ich allen, die daran beteiligt sind, und auch allen Kindern und ihren Familien viel Kraft, Heilung und Gottes reichen Segen wünsche!
LOVE, PEACE AND LIGHT FOR ALL!