Message from the director

by Jorge Aronche

Welcome to the first issue of Transitions for 2001. This year promises to be a year of changes and developments, and many of these have commenced already. Beginning with Transitions; following fruitful discussions with services in other states, this is the year when our magazine will turn national, becoming the magazine of the National Forum of Services for Survivors of Torture and Trauma (NFSSTT). Transitions will continue to be produced in NSW, but with much greater input from our sister services in other states, and will be jointly guided by the members of the National Forum. Transitions and all its readers will benefit greatly from the thus expanded source of input and expertise, and from the wider readership at the national level.

On a sadder note, another change affecting Transitions closely is the departure of Helen Basili, Transitions’ co-editor, and a prolific writer in her own right. Helen was the initiator and mainstay of Transitions, and its existence owes much to Helen’s drive, not to mention her skills and creativity. We wish Helen the very best with her promising future as a freelance journalist, and hope she may continue her involvement with Transitions in that capacity. While Helen will be sorely missed, we are fortunate that Olga Yoldi and the rest of the team will continue to ensure that Transitions remains firmly on the current path of ongoing improvement.

Among recent staff changes at STARTTS, one that stands out is the departure of our long-standing colleague Pam Hartgerink, who was the coordinator of the STARTTS Early Intervention Program since its inception. Pam left STARTTS to become the Director of the torture and trauma service of the Northern Territory, so I look forward to continue to work with her in her new capacity as a member of the National Forum.

We have been fortunate to welcome several new colleagues into the STARTTS team, who bring their particular skills and experience to the organization. One of the projects that will benefit from this influx is an exciting initiative to document the needs of refugee young women and girls, and to develop and pilot specific programs to address these needs.

Among the many other current projects and recent developments at STARTTS one well worth mentioning is the current focus in documenting our work. This is a crucial and exciting area where STARTTS has traditionally not focused enough. The advent of three significant conferences this year has meant that STARTTS staff will be preparing and presenting close to thirty papers in as many topics. These conferences are: the Cultural Diversity in Health conference in May in Sydney, where STARTTS has played a major role in organizing the Refugee Well Being and Torture and Trauma Issues stream, the 6th conference of the International Society for Traumatic Stress, in Croatia, and the National Conference of Torture and Trauma Services at the end of the year. Single papers are also being presented in other conferences. This is a decisive and welcome step towards ensuring that the expertise and materials developed by STARTTS over the years reach a wider audience.

We have also commenced to work in earnest on the options to address STARTTS long standing office space problems. The process under way will include an evaluation of the long term strategic planning for the service, examining the impact of planned strategies such as the development of a student clinic, more comprehensive services for refugee youth and children, and a particular focus on the needs of ageing refugees, amongst others, on the magnitude, location and nature of STARTTS accommodation needs. It promises to be an exciting and demanding task, all the more challenging because of the complexities of making long-term projections in a field so dependent on world politics and events. I look forward to touching on this topic again in our next issue.

On the subject of world politics and events, this issue of Transitions touches on a variety of thought-provoking issues. Olga Yoldi, in our “forgotten conflicts” section explores the long standing conflict in Sri-Lanka, which continues to generate untold horrors and suffering at the margin of the world’s attention. Helen Basili contrasts the past and present of Cambodia through her insightful impressions of a recent trip to this country. Another crucial issue picked up by other articles in this “Transitions” is the situation of refugee women.

Nooria Mehrabi, a STARTTS counselor and overseas trained doctor examines the plight of refugee women in some detail, drawing on her extensive experience in the refugee camps of Pakistan. Another excellent article on this wider topic highlights the rise of sex slavery as a contemporary phenomenon in some areas of Africa. Closer to home, and in keeping with earlier commitments to encourage debate on this topic, this issue features an article on the experiences and problems encountered by Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) holders. Other feature articles in this 9th issue of Transitions include an analysis of the current situation in Burma, and a description of some innovative staff support initiatives involving creative writing recently piloted at STARTTS in the context of Operation Safe Haven.

I sincerely hope you enjoy this issue of Transitions, and look forward to your continued support by joining Friends of STARTS and thus subscribing to Transitions. Till the next issue, with my very best wishes.

Jorge Aroche