Rehabilitation Support For Refugees in Germany

After a long cold winter, the real blossoming spring has finally arrived in Germany, and brought with it a feeling of hope to the many refugees who trying to find hope and stability in the new unfamiliar land. We in IsraAID are as always beside them, supporting them in this process in the best way we can. We are happy to share with you some of the latest new programs we launched:

Workshops about Attitude Towards Women 

In the last months, different shelters in Berlin has asked IsraAID to support them with the effort of keeping women’s rights and improving the attitude towards women in the shelters. A challenging task that we are happy to commit ourselves to. We have created a vivid group for dialog and discussion with the refugees. Our Arabic speaking social workers used a method of theatrical scene presentation following an open discussion. In that way, desired outcomes were reached, and the participants found it eye-opening and fun. Some of the most reluctant participants were the ones last in the room and did not want to leave. As a result, more dialog sessions are planned in other shelters.

Ongoing Art Therapy Program for Children in Shelters 

One of the biggest challenges in refugee shelters is keeping the psychosocial wellbeing of children. After a long survey, IsraAID is approaching this issue through an ongoing art therapy program for children in the ages of 3-12. The program we have developed has been enthusiastically requested by different shelters in Berlin, and our highly motivated team of art therapists is implementing this in close contact with the shelter’s staff.

The long relationship with such shelters is a crucial factor for the child protection and child care processes that ensure the wellbeing of hundreds of children around Germany. 

Psychosocial Support Project for Adults - Processing Trauma through Art

When words cannot describe the feelings, one can find an abstract space in which emotions and traumatic experiences can be processed, and mental stress can be relieved. Our new project of art therapy outside of the shelters for Afghani adults is doing exactly that. Together with our Afghani community manager Soma, which herself was a refugee 25 years ago, and our psychosocial support specialists, we have created a three months program to improve the wellbeing of members from the Afghani refugee community. After the graduation of this current group, another two new such programs are planned-  for unaccompanied minors and for women. As Soma says: “I simply want to remind them that they are strong individuals and not only “refugees”.

We send a warm thank you for your continued support to our work in Germany - our success is only possible through support from people such as yourself!