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Dear Supporters,

From a cottage in Fairfield with a couple of staff, to an organisation of over 100 people helping thousands of refugees, STARTTS has come a long way in 25 years.

Established in 1988 following the release of a landmark report about the severe lack of services for torture survivors in NSW, the demand for our services continues to grow 25 years on.

In this the first edition of STARTTS’ quarterly e-newsletter, we will have some personal reflections on the earliest days of STARTTS, as well as a look at some of our newest and most innovative projects – Neurofeedback and Community Cultural Development.

Thank you for supporting our work,  

Richard Walker
STARTTS Public Affairs Coordinator

Reflecting on 25 years of service

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In the year of STARTTS’ 25th Anniversary, our two longest serving counsellors, Robin Bowles and Tiep Nguyen, look back to the earliest days of STARTTS.

Robin: When we started, there had been agencies trying to do something to help refugees, but there was no specialised treatment service. I didn’t know if any Western ways of working would be suitable for people who were newly arrived from very different societies. I didn’t want to be imposing Western approaches on my clients and colleagues, so we spent years working together trying to work out what helped and what didn’t help, and how to understand what we were doing - and we're still doing that.

Tiep: At first we used a two worker model - a monolingual worker learned about a certain culture from a bilingual worker, and the bilingual worker learned from the monolingual worker about therapy skills, techniques and theory.  

R: I saw the bilingual worker’s role as critical – without them we wouldn’t have had the service. It was through them that we were reaching all the clients, and I think the reason the clients came was because they trusted them. To me they were the heart of the organisation. And in many ways they still are, although we’ve moved on from that early model – many of our staff today are from the same cultural background as our clients, and are also very experienced psychologists and counsellors, so we have the same cultural connection as well as the clinical skills.  

T: Over the years things change, but what doesn’t change is the trauma. We only see traumatised people – they’ve been traumatised by different things, but it often doesn’t matter what caused it, the consequences are the same. It is interesting to note that many of my clients have achieved positive growth and change, and that change is also for me too. So I have grown, and my clients have achieved psychological growth as well.  

R: Working here has been a privilege. It has enriched me immeasurably, and it’s wonderful to do something that you believe is helping other people. I feel like essentially we’re here for the same reasons we were 25 years ago.

Find out more - watch a video of the STARTTS journey.

An event to celebrate STARTTS' 25th Anniversary will be held on the 6th of December 2013. More details soon!

Neurofeedback: changing the brain for the better

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Traumatic experiences can change the way people’s brains work. Trauma can disrupt the natural rhythms of the brain, or cause some areas to become more or less active, which can result in problematic behaviour such as anxiousness or lack of concentration. The STARTTS Neurofeedback program helps people to change their brain in a healthy way.

This new and rapidly expanding area of study relies on the characteristic known as ‘brain plasticity’ – the idea that the brain changes and moulds itself to the demands placed upon it, much like a muscle does with exercise, and that this process can be assisted to create change in a positive way. The STARTTS Neurofeedback program is having great success in improving the brain patterns of people who have survived trauma.

So how does it work? Neurofeedback relies on the capacity of the brain to learn and change itself; using a specially designed computer game, the program trains the brain to produce certain brainwaves, ‘exercising’ the brain in the right way. What is happening to people’s brainwaves is directly related to what happens in the game – to win they must produce the right brainwave patterns. Although it happens unconsciously, the brain soon ‘learns’ the right brainwaves to produce, and after a period of treatment clients become better at producing these brainwaves spontaneously, resulting in a better balanced and more adaptive brain. 

The Neurofeedback team identifies the negative brain patterns that are causing problems for the client, and design the treatment to train the clients’ brain toward a healthier pattern. Problems that are often experienced by torture and trauma survivors – anxiety, hyper-vigilance, aggression, poor concentration – can be successfully treated by using Neurofeedback. While it is just one of many tools that STARTTS uses to treat trauma, it is having great success – 85% of our clients see significant improvements from Neurofeedback treatment.  

STARTTS now has three counsellors assessing and treating clients, and the demand for the service is growing rapidly. Our clinicians are also actively conducting research into the brainwave patterns associated with trauma and its implications for treatment. The Neurofeedback clinic is one of the programs that places STARTTS at the forefront of new approaches to trauma treatment. 

The Neurofeedback program was recently featured in ABC’s Catalyst program. Watch it here.  

To find out more about Neurofeedback, visit the STARTTS website.

Art and performance – breaking down barriers

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Art, music, dance, writing, storytelling… the Community Cultural Development project represents a new way that STARTTS is working with traumatised refugees. Giving communities and individuals the chance to engage artistically not only helps many refugees to realise their considerable talents and skills, and to show these to the wider public, it also can be hugely beneficial to mental and social wellbeing.  

STARTTS Community Cultural Development (CCD) assists refugee communities to engage in cultural production and have unique access to artistic support and mentoring. In its first year, the project has worked with African dancers, Kurdish musicians, visual artists from multiple communities and many more, helping them to create culturally specific art forms that are also uniquely Australian.  

The power of dance  

At the end of 2012 CCD staged its biggest and most successful performance to date – Dance Africa Dance, an exciting showcase of work by professional and amateur African-Australian dancers. The show combined the infectious energy of African performance with professional dancers and choreographers to craft an uplifting demonstration of the power and talent of the diverse African community in Australia. This was not simply ‘cultural dance’, but a distinctive hybrid; a diverse blend of traditional African and contemporary Australian styles and a completely unique performance.  

The capacity audience was thrilled by the joyous Sierra Leone Women’s Cultural Performance Group, the uplifting Sudanese Women’s Choir and by powerful performances by two groups of new young dancers – the Afro-Contemporary Youth Dance Group and the Walking Project.  

And, importantly, not only did the audience leave happy but the project had a great impact on the participants as well:  

“Now I know that nothing is too difficult, you can still be trained and go on and be excellent, so I’ve discovered my potential now.”  

“Most of us weren’t confident, I have never performed in a theatre and that was a very good experience for me. In the performance everything came together and it made us feel that we can do better.”  

To see a video about the performance, or to find out more about CCD, visit the STARTTS website.

Humanitarian Awards open

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Do you know someone who is doing outstanding work with refugees? Nominate now!

Professor Jim Ife

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Join us for a workshop from Professor Ife - 'New Directions in Community Development'.

Refugee Week in June

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The official launch of Refugee Week - 15 June, 2013. Films, music, art, awards and more.

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