Editorial by Paul Tibbles in dialogue with Ncazelo Ncube
This edition of Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry (CCPP) has developed in the context of ongoing and increasing international alarm at the levels of displaced children, young people and families seeking refuge from persecution, war and economic privations. Initially as special editor, my focus was on how to promote articles which addressed the immediate and long-term needs of these people and the therapeutic care that should be made available to them. However, I was aware of divergent views that existed between some practitioners who focussed on addressing trauma, while others were attentive to promoting resilience. Among the many other issues which I considered important were the long-term effects on parents of losing a child during conflict, cultural sensitivity of services, the wider political context, and the impact of vicarious trauma and vicarious resilience on health and social care staff. I think that the articles in this edition cover many of these issues which are highly relevant when addressing the psychological well-being of displaced and persecuted children and families. Although these articles are derived from different parts of the globe, they inevitably reflect a bias towards researchers and clinicians originating from more affluent recipient countries rather than the perspective of those working in emerging economies. It was with this in mind that I approached Ncazelo Ncube to ask her to engage with me in an email dialogue about our different perspectives on how best to promote the psychological development and well-being of children, young people and families seeking asylum and refuge. Ncazelo is well known for her work in South Africa using narrative approaches with displaced children (Ncube, 2006). Our email dialogue is located below and, as can be gathered, there was considerable reflection about our own history and cultural context and how that impacted on the way we made sense of what we experienced and the ramifications of this on our work. Paul: Life contains periodic poignant coincidences and such an incident happened to me while preparing to write this editorial. A number of unexpected conjunctions in my own life had ramifications and connections with my thinking about the victims of war, refugee families and unaccompanied children seeking sanctuary. Prior to starting to write the editorial, I was called to jury service for a trial in a part of London where I had moved to from Devon almost 40 years earlier. At that time, it was a desolate and empty area of derelict warehouses surrounded by the last remaining bombsites in the city. I revelled in being able to walk through this during the working week without seeing another person. It was truly Dickensian. Now, it has some of the most expensive real estate in the country, there are vast crowds of people walking along its footpaths and the last remaining physical memories of World War II have been erased. The 755775 CCP0010.1177/1359104518755775Clinical Child Psychology and PsychiatryEditorial editorial2018
Researching the Effectiveness of Tree of Life: an Imbeleko Approach to Counseling Refugee Youth
With the growing worldwide refugee crisis, there is a need for evidence-based interventions that specifically deal with the consequences of cumulative trauma-exposure in refugee youth. Refugee children have unique service needs and differ from their non-refugee peers in terms of sociocultural trauma, language, culture, and educational barriers. This article explains the complexities associated with understanding refugee youth and presents a proposal for studying the possible benefits of Tree of Life therapy. At the present time, Tree of Life therapy has no evidence-base because the published studies of Tree of Life with refugee and/or immigrant youth have sample sizes of one, six, eight, and twenty-nine. As a culturally-grounded, strength-based group counseling approach, Tree of Life therapy addresses traumatic experiences, recognizes participants’ cultural differences, highlights individual skills, and aids in instilling both confidence and hope for the future. Ncazelo Ncube, the co-founder and main developer of Tree of Life, describes this therapy as a collective narrative practice that considers cultural beliefs and values (2006, 2010, 2018, 2019). The proposed research design is to study the effectiveness of the Tree of Life in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. The research plan is to use pragmatic, group-randomized controlled trials in the “real world” settings of schools and agencies in each of the four countries. In addition, the article describes the development of the Roots and Wings Questionnaire for Children and Youth, a culturally relevant, child-friendly questionnaire. The Tree of Life is a readily available therapy with great potential for helping traumatized refugee youth as well as other trauma-impacted young people worldwide.
Addiction‐Specific CACREP Standards in Clinical Mental Health Counseling Programs: How Are They Met?
In 2009, the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) included training standards specific to addiction for clinical mental health counseling programs. This study surveyed CACREP-accredited program coordinators to determine how addiction-specific standards were addressed.