Arriving in Thailand

I'm in Bangkok today, reading and planning in preparation for the 12 days on the border in Mae Sot and the Mae Tao Clinic. This training seems pivotal to me in that I'm hoping to create a shift in the way we've operated in the past. I hope to be able to work with medics who are dealing with the social/emotional aspect of medicine and develop with them a program to provide them with the training and support they'll need to function effectively. Lisa has asked me to collaborate with a woman who'll be at the clinic for three months who has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and is now working on a degree in Public Health. She's been asked by Dr. Cynthia to work with the medics who are working with the HIV/AIDS population as well as the medics who are developing a domestic violence program.

This seems like an ideal opportunity develop a way to train and support these people. The talent and compassion of the medics has been clear to us over the past five years. The stress under which they work as they multitask amidst tragedy and sorrow has also been obvious. This may be an opportunity to work with medics who are going to be able to focus some of their time on counseling. The long term hope is that within a war situation where both medic and patient have witnessed multiple traumas and in which their society has been torn apart, the sense of powerlessness can be transformed.

The particulars await.