Press Releases

Victims Conference

23rd October 2006

PRESS RELEASE

23 October 2006

Helping Victims of the Troubles

The Community Relations Council (CRC) welcomes to Northern Ireland Dr Yael Danieli a clinical psychologist from New York, and an international expert in trauma treatment and prevention, who is attending a special CRC Victims and Survivors conference in Limavady this week.

Dr Danieli is Director of the Group Project for Holocaust Survivors and their Children which she founded in 1975 in New York City. She has published widely on victim care and has received many awards for her work with victims including the Lifetime Achievement Award of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. She has served as consultant to South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and to the Rwanda government on reparations for victims. She has been the senior representative at the United Nations of the World Federation of Mental Health and a consultant to the United Nations and various governments on trauma and victims rights and care.  

Dr Danieli is “eager to learn first hand of the experiences that people in Northern Ireland have been through and how they have coped with them”.  She believes that her experience worldwide with the lifelong and, in particular, multigenerational legacies of trauma “may contribute to healing  on all levels - individual, family, community, society, nation - and, of equal importance, to prevent unhealed wounds from festering to succeeding generations.”

Dr Daneli is the guest speaker at the Community Relations Council's third annual conference for Victims and Survivors of the Troubles which takes place on 23 and 24 October in Limavady. Northern Ireland Interim  Commissioner for Victims and Survivors, Bertha McDougal, will also be attending.  There will be over 130 participants representing 50 local organisations working with those most directly affected by the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The conference aims to provide support, space and encouragement to victim support groups funded by the Council and help them network with others.

Bertha McDougal said: “ I am delighted to be able to be part of the Community Relations Council Annual Conference and to have the opportunity to present on the second day.”

Duncan Morrow, CRC's Chief Executive, said: “The focus of this event is the impact of trauma on people's lives and on moving from the past into a healthy future. There are many challenges for us all in moving towards a meaningful Shared Future together.” 

Workshops at the conference will address:

• Trauma awareness raising
• Exploration of models for dealing with stress and anxiety
• Music therapy as a therapeutic intervention
• Image and identity exploration to develop empowerment
• Becoming resilient – the move from victim to survivor
• Research and analysis of suicide and self-harming and service provision

.For further information contact

Ray Mullan (CRC Communications Director)

at the Community Relations Council, Tel 028 90 227500