BC Community Responds to Turkish/Syrian Earthquake

Continued from page 1

The University community includes 22 undergraduate and graduate students from Turkey, and a number of faculty members who are natives of the country. Staff from the offices of Student Affairs and Campus Ministry have reached out to Turkish students on campus, Fr. Butler said.

“We have been making sure those folks know that we support and love them and understand how tremendously difficult this is for them,” he said.

Assistant Professor of Biology Emrah Altindis said he and his fellow Turkish colleagues have been in touch with family and friends. The scope of the devastation is immense, he said, and has been compounded by shortcomings in the government responses.

“Given the scale of the devastation, it is clear that ongoing, long-term sup- sources of stress and anxiety, note the researchers, such as economic pressures, legal status, access to education and health care, and the overall challenge of adjusting to life in a new country and markedly different society. This tends to compound familial challenges, creating the mental health risks for children.

“Afghan families and communities demonstrate a tremendous amount of strength which we hope to illuminate,” said BCSSW Salem Professor in Global Practice Theresa Betancourt, who is heading the team with UIC Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Mary Bunn, director of the UIC Global Mental Health Research and Training Program.

“We also want to help ensure that evidencebased services are available to help promote child and family mental health with much more of a prevention focus.”

The BCSSW-UIC project is being supported through Switchboard, a project of the International Rescue Committee that is funded by ORR. Switchboard offers a library of learning resources, an online evidence database, a range of self-paced e-learning courses, regular live learning opportunities, and on-demand technical assistance for ORR-funded organizations.

BCSSW and UIC have worked together in researching mental health and family support needs of Afghan refugees in Maine and recently-arrived evacuees at Ft. McCoy, Wisc. These collaborations, along with others involving community partners serving Somali Bantu and Bhutanese refugee populations, will be the foundation for the new project, which centers on promoting mental health in Afghan families with children aged 10-17 and their caregivers. The team will interview refugees and service providers to get a fuller understanding of behavioral or mental health challenges and issues, as well as the strengths and resources, that typify Afghan families’ resettlement experiences.

The BCSSW-UIC researchers will disseminate their findings to the Switchboard network, including state refugee health coordinators and ORR-funded refugee service organizations, and develop high-quality learning resources and materials, including a published manuscript, webinars, guides or hand-outs, and policy briefs. The team also plans to establish community advisory boards comprising parents, youths, leaders, and policy makers in New England to orient its research methods, ground research findings within the Afghan context, and eventually bring the findings of their research into further refinement of their Family Strengthening Intervention for Refugees initiative currently being piloted among Afghan families in Maine.

RPCA researchers said that some in-

“People need our prayers, our support, and our resources.” sights and observations gleaned from existing refugee resettlement initiatives, such as those in Maine, are likely to be present in others. Postdoctoral researcher Euijin Jung noted that most Somali Bantus are Muslim, as are Afghans, and formative qualitative work revealed that many resettlement stressors are similar—including school and new-language adaptation, low literacy, and a simultaneous concern over losing cultural identity while adjusting to a new one.

“We do have to also appreciate the unique cultural and contextual differences that characterize Afghan populations,” said Betancourt. “For instance, many of the young girls and families with whom we work have never attended co-ed schools, so that entails pretty large adjustments at first.

“Additionally, as opposed to the Bhutanese and Somali Bantu families with whom we work—whose trauma dates back to wars in the late 1990s and subsequent displacement—Afghans experienced very acute trauma as recently as August 2021, so we have to proceed with additional sensitivity and care.”

—Jack Butler, S.J.

Destruction in Diyarbakır, Turkey, February 6. The earthquake is estimated to have killed at least 51,100 people and displaced or affected more than 30 million others.

port will be necessary to ensure that these communities can fully recover,” said Altindis. “As the American dollar is currently strong compared to the Turkish lira, I would strongly recommend sending impactful financial support to aid in the recovery efforts instead of clothes or other items.”

He added: “I believe that we can make a meaningful difference in the lives of those affected by this tragedy. Finally, I would also like to encourage the BC community to be mindful of the impact this disaster has had on students and employees from Syria and Turkey. Many of us have likely experienced trauma as a result of this event, and it’s important that we offer support and understanding during this difficult time.”

To support relief efforts in Turkey, see Catholic Relief Services [support.crs.org/ donate/earthquakes] or Jesuit Refugee Service [www.jrsusa.org].