The Impact of “Training the Trainers” Course for Helping Tsunami-Survivor Children on Sri Lankan Disaster Volunteer Workers

Marc Gelkopf, Department of Community Mental Health, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa; NATAL, the Israel Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War, and Psychologists, Psychiatrists and Social Workers Beyond Borders; Lev Hasharon Mental Health Center, Pardessia, Israel; Pamela Ryan and Sarah, J. Cotton, Issues Deliberation Australia/America, University of Texas, Austin; Psychologists, Psychiatrists and Social Workers Beyond Borders; Rony Berger, NATAL, the Israel Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War, and Psychologists, Psychiatrists and Social Workers Beyond Borders. We thank the generous sponsors whose various contributions made this project possible: The Silverton Foundation for their financial contribution; Issues Deliberation Australia/ America (IDA) and NATAL, Israel Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War for their commitment and “in kind” support; the staff and volunteers from Sumithrayo for their assistance in helping to set up the project and hosting the training for the ERASE Stress program. Finally, we thank the people of Sri Lanka who allowed us to walk a few steps with them on their journey of recovery. This work was the inaugural project of the international nongovernmental organization Psychologists, Psychiatrists and Social Workers Beyond Borders (PBB). We acknowledge the assistance of Rena Kurs in preparation of the article. The first and last authors have equally collaborated on this study. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Marc Gelkopf, Lev Hasharon Mental Health Center, POB 9000, Netanya 42100, Israel. E-mail: emgelkopf@ 013.net.il