Trauma-Aid, Humanitarian Assistance Program Germany

Abstract

Trauma-Aid Germany was founded in 2002 by dedicated eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapists to help people traumatized by calamities, disaster, or violence to overcome the psychological consequences and regain emotional stability and mental health. Trauma-Aid, also known as the Humanitarian Assistance Program Germany, works in crisis areas abroad, offering nonprofit trainings in EMDR therapy and establishing projects to support and treat trauma victims and survivors. Projects in China, Slovakia, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Rwanda, and Haiti, in cooperation with other nongovernmental organizations and the German government, have supported trained participants in the treatment of clients in the respective countries and the initiation of local research projects. The basic principle is to work with networks of local practitioners or mental health worker, experts, and universities to establish structures that will maintain themselves in future. Nearly all countries to which Trauma-Aid Germany has taken training have meanwhile set up their own EMDR organizations, with many local EMDR trainers already trained or in training.