Across three days, 192 secondary students from one of the worst conflict affected areas of the city were randomised to either follow the structured, guided writing exercises in the Writing for Recovery manual or to write generally about a neutral topic. Although adolescents receiving both conditions showed improvements in terms of reduced posttraumatic stress and anxiety levels, these levels were reduced significantly further at the three-month follow-up for students in the Writing for Recovery condition.

The project was led by Tori Snell, a clinical psychology trainee from the University of Leicester who
worked with Numan Ali (FRCPsych), consultant psychiatrist and head of department at the Baghdad
Teaching Hospital and a team of trained volunteers. Scientific evaluation of the intervention was
supported by Professor Michael Wang, clinical course director in the School of Psychology at the
University of Leicester and Dr Marilyn Christie from the same department.

A second study, led by Dr Ali working with Tori Snell, has evaluated the intervention using cortisol
salivary sampling as an objective measure over a 12-month follow-up period with a similar
population of adolescents in Baghdad. The data for this study are currently being analysed. A paper
reporting results from the pilot study will be published in the May 2012 edition of the Journal of
Arab Psychiatry.

Our past chair, William Yule invites supporters to a fundraising meeting at Institute of Psychiatry:

“You will know from our website that in addition to undertaking a great deal of training these last few years, the Foundation has also funded a number of research projects. Some of these are now completed and have resulted in good, peer-reviewed publications. As hoped for, pilot studies and RCTs of the use of our Training Recovery Techniques and Writing for Recovery manuals now have good evidence of their efficacy.

Until now the Foundation’s income has come mainly from fundraising concerts in Norway and the generosity of the Norwegian Department of Foreign Affairs. However, the recession is hitting charities and we need to increase our efforts to raise corporate and individual funds.

This year, we have been negotiating with the UK Revenue to have the Norwegian based charity registered to enable tax claims on donations from UK tax payers. Our Lawyers advised us that this was preferable to registering a linked UK based charity. We are now waiting the decision of HMRC. So this is the time to get organised regarding fundraising. Once recognised by HMRC we are advised that it will be easier to attract corporate donations.

We would like to hear from you regarding any suggestions for fundraising, and whether you can attend a meeting at 4 pm on Tuesday 10 January 2012 at the Institute of Psychiatry, 1 floor Henry Wellcome Building. Even if you are unable to attend, please contact us with your suggestions: william.yule@kcl.ac.uk

Most charities depend on a large group of supporters. How do we encourage more giving. How do we make maximum use of Just giving, Virgin Charity giving and so on? Sponsored walks and swims seem to attract donations. Charity auctions, concerts and so on can be good for raising our profile as well as funds.”

Five articles are currently in submission. A paper on the Iran-based Efficacy of Writing for Recovery project is currently in press in Omega, and a paper on our Gaza project has been accepted in the Journal of Traumatic Stress.

We have added a list of published studies the Children and War Foundation has supported on our website: Publications using the CAW Manuals and Measures.

Child Soldiers has published a link to the study on their website.

Sierra Leone’s Former Child Soldiers:  A Follow-Up Study of Psychosocial Adjustment and Community Reintegration. Betancourt, T.S., Borisova, II., Williams, T.P., Brennan, R.T., Whitfied, T.H., de la Soudier, M., Williamson, J., Gilman, S.E.  Child Development (2010) 81(4) 1077-1095.

Two of our Board members, Atle Dyregrov and Magne Raundalen, will give advice on how to help children who experience trauma and grief at an anniversary seminar in Oslo in December. They will provide an up to date insight into how traumas and crisis can damage children’s health and development. Dyregrov will also share experiences from Utøya.

The seminar is aimed at anyone who works closely with children and who needs to be up to date on how to help children. The seminar is held in connection with Dyregrov’s 60th and Raundalen’s 70th birthdays. The proceeds will go to the Children and War Foundation. For more info on the seminar on trauma and grief in children.

Richard Meiser-Stedman and the translators have kindly agreed to share it.

Smith has been a member of the Board since 2008, and has been appointed for a two year period. He replaces William Yule who continues as a member of the Board of Directors.

The new Chair is a lecturer in Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London, and Hon Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the Child Traumatic Stress Clinic, Maudsley Hospital, London.

While there are a diversity of manuals available to help school-age children following war and disasters, there are very few practical tools available to address the need of small children. Although there is much research to base good, practical advise to parents on following disasters, this needs to be worked into a practical tool or handbook that parents other child caretakers can use to support children following large scale natural or man-made disasters.

Hero Norge operates asylum centres in Norway, and hopes the new handbook can be useful for the organisation:

“Hero Norge sees the value in your work and especially the value of a handbook which can help parents take care of their children. We hope the handbook can be an important tool to for parents who live in reception centres.”

Children and War Foundation is still calling for more sponsors for this project and other projects, please check out our donation page if you want to help.

Nexhmedin Morina and Ulrike von Lersner found that war-related loss during childhood and adolescence presented a significant risk for mental health and dysfunction in young adulthood.

Bereaved participants were more likely to suffer from any anxiety disorder or MDE than the non-bereaved participant, the authors reported.

War and Bereavement: Consequences for Mental and Physical Distress by Nexhmedin Morina, Ulrike von Lersner and Holly G. Prigerson.