World Psychologists want to offer psychological support to refugees on sad but beautiful Lesvos
OOSTERBEEK - The aid to refugees on Lesbos consists mainly of bed, bath and bread. That is why the World Psychologists Foundation is committed to offer psychological help there. Gea Dunnik from Oosterbeek would like to roll up her sleeves there.
''Lesbos is the saddest place to go, but at the same time a beautiful place to be.'' This is how Gea Dunnik from Oosterbeek explains her motivation to help on Lesbos. She founded the World Psychologists Foundation earlier this year with psychologists Jeanette Jaspers and Myra Haakman. The aim of this organization is to structurally station psychologists on the Greek island, where many refugees are gathered. Currently, because of the coronavirus, help is provided from a distance. Nine psychologists provide online support. Gea Dunnik will head to Lesbos again in September. She was supposed to leave back in March, but that trip was canceled due to corona. The psychotherapist from Oosterbeek will stay there for several weeks and then be relieved by a colleague who wants to stay on the refugee island for several months. Stichting Wereldpsychologen is working with Fenix Humaniatarian Legal Aid on Lesbos. This organization's lawyers conduct on-site interviews with refugees, give legal advice and ask them what they need. World Psychologists Foundation's support consists of sitting in on these talks, providing psychological help to the lawyers and knowledge transfer. ''Such as on how to deal with a refugee who is reliving a trauma,'' says Dunnik. Thanks to this help, the knife cuts both ways. ''The lawyers are more solidly positioned and therefore have less fear of having in-depth conversations with refugees,'' Dunnik explains. ''This makes it easier for them to tell their whole story.'' The impetus to establish the World Psychologists Foundation was a conversation Dunnik had with a Syrian refugee. She was in Lesbos for the first time in 2018, giving a presentation on trauma, among other things.Over lunch, she sat next to the refugee, who told her that others thought he was crazy. The man appeared to talk in his sleep, had nightmares and was restless. ''Typical symptoms for trauma.'' The Syrian revealed that he had had to leave his wife and children behind. ''When he told them they had died without him, he shot up all over again,'' Dunnik recalled. After their conversation of about 15 minutes, the man felt seen. This raised the question for Dunnik of why first aid is offered on Lesbos, but hardly any psychological help. She posted a call about this on LinkedIn and found like-minded people. They made contact via Facebook with Fenix Humaniatarian Legal Aid and that's how the ball got rolling. She is delighted by the togetherness and resilience of refugees. ''One African man got money for medicine and gave what he had left to us, for someone who could also use it,'' she says. ''Stories like this, in all the misery, still make Lesbos a beautiful place to be.'' https://www.gelderlander.nl/renkum/gea-wil-vluchtelingen-psychische-steun-bieden-op-triest-maar-mooi-lesbos~a8d9f0ec/?referrer=https://www.google.com/