Is recovery possible after witnessing war?
.
CW: war fighting, sexual violence, genocide
An online transcript is available
.
The latest iteration of Russia's war on Ukraine has entered its second year prompting us to examine the issue of war trauma ��� especially the toll war takes on civilians. Russia's indiscriminate targeting of civilian housing, schools, hospitals, and infrastructure has not only made civilians witnesses of war, but victims of it. War-rape, which was only recognized as a crime against humanity following the war in the former Yugoslavia, is being used by Russian forces and paramilitaries as a means of terrorizing civilians.
On today's program, four conversations about civilians during and after war.
.
Sr. Donna Markham, OP, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and Dominican sister, heads Catholic Charities USA. She describes her encounters with Ukrainian civilians during her recent trip to the war zone and the tasks that face the people of Ukraine today. (Watch: Catholic Charities' webinar on Sr. Donna's visit to Ukraine.)
.
Next: we talk with Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta, MBBS, Ph.D., a physician who co-directs the Centre for Global Child Health at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto about the long-term effects of maternal and child health of living in a war zone and the very real developmental deficits that can arise by disruption of adequate nutrition, normal schooling, and play. (Watch: Aga Khan University's Lecture by Dr. Bhutta on the future of maternal and child health.)
.
And we have a conversation with Shanna Kohn who is Director of International Education at Sesame Workshop. In addition to its longstanding effort to meet the educational needs of refugee children, for the first time ever, Sesame Workshop in Ukraine is producing content for children in an active war zone. ��(Watch: the entire episode "������������ ����������" ["Grover is Sad"])
.
And finally, we talk with Dr. Nena Mo��nik, Ph.D., author of Trauma Transmission and Sexual Violence: Reconciliation and Peacebuilding in Post Conflict Settings about the use of rape as a tool of war and the ways victims can begin to recover from the trauma of it. (Watch: Project Eirene's video of Dr. Mo��nik's webinar on "Women and Post-War Transitions: Oral history,")
.
BONUS: Listen to our episode "Life During Wartime" ��(Episode 041) from March, 2022 where we examined the early days of the Russian War on Ukraine through the lens of whole-person care; how every aspect of a person's life is thrown out of balance in the midst of war. It features conversations with displaced people, ex-pats and people of Ukrainian ancestry living in the U.S. eager to help people back home, relief workers assisting refugees, and a journalist with a long history of covering Putin and the Ukraine.��
��
��
��
Providence, one of the nation's largest healthcare systems, is dedicated to caring for the whole person. The twice monthly Hear Me Now Podcast helps fulfill the unmet needs of patients, their loved ones, caregivers, and communities by offering a place for in-depth conversations that matter. Contact us at HumanCaring@providence.org
Winner of the PR News Nonprofit Podcast of the Year Award 2022