Sharjah 24: The Sharjah International Foundation for the History of Arab and Muslim Sciences (SIFHAMS) at University of Sharjah (UOS), in collaboration with the Department of Family and Community Medicine and Behavioural Sciences, College of Medicine, organised the 3rd SIFHAMS Scholar Talk on “Developing Disaster Mental Health: Psychological Interventions and Commensurate Therapeutic Skills in Islamic Settings.”
It was delivered by the Fulbright Scholar Dr. Louis Downs, California State University, Sacramento, who shared basic premises used to train psychologists and counselors to provide intervention for crisis and disaster mental health relief, in the presence of the Director of SIFHAMS, Prof. Mesut Idriz, and Dr. Tarek Merabtene, Director of the Office of International Relations, and a number of faculty and administrative members.
During the lecture, Dr. Louis addressed a number of issues that an international consultant must prepare to face when in the field, whether it be for consultation to build curriculum for universities wishing to train their own students, building disaster and crisis teams, or supervising these teams as the provide mental health care in post-disaster situations. Dr. Louis also discussed a range of barriers he has faced in Islamic communities while attempting to enact programs he was solicited for by various psychological institutions and universities.
In addition, he discussed the skills that the disaster mental health workers must acquire to supply clients with feelings of safety and stability, including the ability to assess present state of being of immediate client, evaluate client’s ability to receive instructions, orders and feedback, and their response reactions to post disaster situations.
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