Michael J. Scheel, Ph.D on FIRST Project loss of funding

by FIRST Project | Views: 1190

I am a faculty member at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. My primary area of responsibility is as the program director of the doctoral program in counseling psychology in the Department of Educational Psychology. Our graduate program provides education and training to our students in preparation for careers as counseling psychologists. Over the last five or six years we have developed a field placement training relationship with the FIRST (For Immigrants and Refugees Surviving Torture) Project here in Lincoln. FIRST specializes in the treatment of refugee and immigrant torture survivors. I am writing this letter due to the recent discovery that FIRST no longer has funding from our federal government to continue its work.

I suspect that it is unknown to most in Nebraska that approximately 3500 individuals classified as torture survivors reside in our state making it difficult for Nebraskans to stay untouched by some of the horrors of our world. Our survivors' torture experiences were government sponsored, and the torture survivors treated at FIRST come from 15 different countries including Bosnia, Sudan, Congo, El Salvador, and Afghanistan.

Truly, torture is part of our world even in Lincoln, Nebraska that has been a designated as a re-location center for refugees and immigrants. FIRST has provided one solution to the act "committed by a person under the law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering upon another person within his custody or physical control" (US Torture Relief Act of 1998).

FIRST provides needed help through culturally sensitive and holistic behavioral health services to help to bring these individuals who have experienced torture back from the effects of trauma to more enriching and productive lives. Tabetha Mack, one of our graduate students of our academic program who received training at FIRST, wrote that FIRST "works to reshape pieces of people’s lives that have been shattered by helping them to once again believe in the goodness of the human spirit." And now, it seems that we are losing this wonderful community resource and capacity to affect human beings in such positive ways due to the recent event in which the Federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) did not renew FIRST’s grant. As a consequence, FIRST desperately needs funds as a stop-gap measure while they work to re-define themselves and gather new funding sources.

Even though we are very close to losing this very valuable resource that provides assistance to our immigrant and refugee neighbors, there seems to be a lack of response and apathy from our community. Despite the recent story in the Lincoln Journal Star about FIRST losing their grant few efforts to raise funds and provide assistance have developed. As a result, FIRST will have to end soon, at least in the form that it presently takes.

This is a loss, I believe, not only of the specialized work that is provided to torture victims but also of the community's capacity to respond to the needs of individuals from other cultures, who perhaps speak in other languages than English, and who most likely possess diverse lifestyles and customs that act to enrich our Midwest way of life. FIRST not only has led the way through torture survivor treatment, they also have provided ethically appropriate training of interpreters to work with counselors and psychologists in their treatment of individuals who do not speak English. Furthermore, FIRST contributes tremendously to our community through education and outreach programs such as their monthly Diversity Discussions at Bryan LGH.

The history of FIRST is that the organization started in October of 2000 through the ORR grant. The Director and founder is Dr. Maria Prendes-Lintel, a graduate of our counseling psychology program at UNL and a very active psychologist in our community. FIRST is one of about 35 centers of its kind around the country that work with refugees now living in the US who have been severely traumatized through torture they experienced previously before fleeing to the US. Even though FIRST is one of 35, it is the only agency of its kind in the Midwest. Dr. Prendes Lintel and FIRST have lead the way in treating traumatized refugees, training professionals to work with refugees and immigrants, and training interpreters in culturally and ethically appropriate practices. The agency is located on 10th and O in Lincoln. FIRST proudly offers a treatment model that is comprehensive in focus involving medical and social services as well as psychological services.

I have been disappointed with the lack of public outcry concerning the potential loss of FIRST. In my disappointment, I have wondered about the reasons for the lack of community response to this very worthy cause. Among my thoughts are the following. Perhaps individuals do not believe there is a great need for these types of services in, of all places, Nebraska, the heart of the Midwest. Well, the fact is that there are at least 3500 torture survivors in Nebraska, and in Lincoln alone, there are approximately 35,000 individuals who possess immigrant status. The long range plan of FIRST is to expand services beyond only torture survivor treatment to a broader mission of a Multicultural Behavioral Health Clinic.

We Nebraskans have few resources in our state to work competently with ethnically and culturally diverse individuals. The face of our state has changed and continues to change away from its former White Western European image. Our Nebraska culture has always embraced an attitude of genuine welcome to individuals who move to our communities and openness to other viewpoints and values. Lincoln is not the only changing community in our state. Going up and down I-80, we find many immigrants in places like Lexington, Aurora, and Grand Island to name just a few towns that have experiences large influxes of immigrants over the past decade.

A second thought I have concerning the lack of response to the impending loss of FIRST is that human beings just are not comfortable in directly acknowledging that people suffer on a regular basis from torture around the world. Perhaps it is just too painful for us to face the truth that we live in a cruel, punishing world. Most people probably cope with this reality through avoidance or intellectualization or some other common psychological defense. Nebraskans may tend to minimize the extent of torture in our world, and rationalize that here in Nebraska there cannot be a very large need for the services that FIRST provides. I suppose it is only human nature to not want to face the reality that the world can be a cruel place. However, here in Nebraska we have the opportunity to help make our world a kinder place by supporting services such as the ones that FIRST provides. I have always been very proud of my heritage as a Nebraskan.

I believe that Nebraskans are special in that we face our responsibilities and duties to each other and believe strongly in a sense of community. To that end, we Nebraskans now have another call to duty. And that is to support FIRST in its work with the newer members of our community, immigrants and refugees in Nebraska, even though our federal government has failed to continue to do so.

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