Background

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Many refugees, especially children, have lived through traumatic experiences which shelter teams are ill-equipped to handle. In addition to these factors, the challenging living conditions in the refugee shelters also negatively affect their psychosocial wellbeing and integration in Germany. This requires the implementation of a new psychosocial support system.

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The project

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IsraAID supports refugee shelters in Germany with ongoing, long-term, professional psychosocial support using art therapy and psychological first aid. The MSTU program not only directly supports the shelter’s children and adults, but also provides the shelter teams with a professional psychosocial overview of the wellbeing of the residents.

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​The goals

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• Reducing post-traumatic symptoms and psychological stress

• Maintaining continuous psychological care for the shelter’s children

• Recognizing situations in which children’s protection is at risk

• Enhancing communication within families

• Providing shelter workers with theoretical knowledge of trauma, psychosocial interventions, and communication