Trauma and resilience courseDr. Paul M. Beckingham attended the inaugural HU Trauma and Resilience program.

What first struck me was the diversity of our group. We were Christians, Jews, and Muslims, 20-somethings to 60-somethings. We came from the U.S.A., Canada, Britain, Holland, Germany, Finland, Bolivia, and Israel. We were psychotherapists in private practice, researchers in trauma, military chaplains from three countries, a school psychologist, a former reporter from the Times of London, and graduate students of psychology.

We were all there as part of the inaugural “Trauma and Resilience: Theory and Practice from the Israeli Experience,” a course presented by the Hebrew U’s Rothberg International School (RIS) and The Israel Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma. We were drawn together by the outstanding quality of the program and the international reputation of its presenters, Dr. Danny Brom and Dr. Ruth Pat-Horenczyk.

The two-week intensive program involved 32 hours of instruction each week. An intense focus on the literature and theoretical underpinnings was peppered with practical examples of clinical approaches. As a nation under constant threat, Israel acts as a de facto stress-andresilience laboratory for the world.

We studied school resilience projects in troubled areas like Sderot and Netiv Ha Asera, followed by trips to the Trauma Center in Nahariyya and to the International Institute for Counter- Terrorism in Herzaliyya. We heard the testimony of three survivors of terror, including one survivor of the Frank Sinatra Café bombing at the Hebrew University. The recently introduced theory of traumatic bonding suddenly became a reality when Dr. Brom announced to the class the tragic attack in Jerusalem by a tractor driver, killing three and injuring more than 40. More than half the group stayed for an additional one-week, hands-on workshop for clinicians, where we acquired skills for trauma intervention within a cognitive behavioural model.

Following the course, I talked to many local Israelis about issues of trauma and resilience that have an impact on their daily lives. Speaking to one mother of three young and very beautiful children, I was able to offer some helpful hints on how to talk to them about their fears. Her community of 100 families in the Moshav Netiv Ha’Asara live and farm there under constant threat from Kassam missiles and mortars — and stay astonishingly positive.

Dr. Paul M. Beckingham is assistant professor of church and mission at the University of British Columbia’s Carey Theological College, and chaplain to the British Columbia Regiment (The Duke of Connaught’s Own Regiment).