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Sam Sahl in Amman, Jordan with the International Medical Corps

During Melinda's site visit with Sam, she was able to observe Sam providing a workshop for case managers and also join Sam on a visit to the Syrian refugee camps where Sam has been working (and which have appeared frequently in the media reports about the situation over there). Here's an excerpt from Sam's weekly reflections that provides an example of the trainings she has been developing and providing for the individuals on the ground in these camps:

This week I gave the Parenting Skills and Child Development training that I created to two of the field sites, Azraq camp and Irbid. The training includes a discussion on how traumatic experiences with the absence of caregiver support (toxic stress) can negatively impact the child's developing brain and lead to social, emotional, motor, and intellectual, mental problems later in life. The workshop also introduces the Nurturing Children wheel to the case managers to help recognize all of the needs that children have, and how to help parents better meet all of these needs. Next, there is a review on the stages of child development, including the specific needs a child has at each stage, the range of 'normal behavior' at each stage, and recommendations for parents to help meet their children's needs. The last part of the workshop is an overview of specific strategies parents can use with their children, followed by a case example that brings together all parts of the workshop. At the start of the workshop, I asked the case managers to come up with a list of common problems/ concerns that parents come to them with, and attempts to address as many of these throughout the workshop that I could. I also continually tied the material back to actual cases by asking the case managers for examples, and how the material relates to specific cases that they are dealing with.