Damascus-SANA
The Syrian Commission for Family and Population Affairs, in cooperation with specialized experts and academics, is developing a first draft of a manual for psychosocial support, which has increased in need as a result of the war in Syria. Statistics show that among people who have witnessed wars, one out of every 11 or 9 percent is likely to suffer from mental disorders. moderate or severe
The head of the commission, Samar Sibai, explained to SANA that issuing a manual for psychosocial support is of great importance, especially since the country is in the stage of recovery from the war, in order to direct efforts to those in need of this support in a way that achieves the desired result, noting that work is underway to prepare a draft. It is first for the guide to be put into practice and to monitor the feedback for adding or modifying its content.
The guide, according to the Director of Family Issues in the Commission, Rana Khalifawi, is based on the existing national evidence to reach a single guide that is binding on all parties working in this field. Experimentation to take feedback before its final release.
On the sidelines of a workshop held by the Commission in cooperation with the United Nations Children’s Fund “UNICEF” on psychosocial support, the organization’s deputy representative in Syria, Ghada Kajjain, indicated that the manual and training program on psychosocial support contribute to expanding the knowledge and skills of professionals to be able to respond to the psychological and social needs of children, especially The crisis in Syria demonstrated the urgent need for this support and the need to build local expertise capable of implementing a range of psychological and social interventions.
Trainer Fatima Darwish pointed out the importance of gathering efforts to come up with a guide that constitutes a reference for all parties concerned with psychosocial support, while the trainee, Dr. Nour Al-Hassan, mentioned the necessity of having basic principles to help children and people who have been exposed to trauma to overcome this situation.
Muhannad Suleiman and Amer Deeb