Projects > ISTSS Task Force on International Trauma Training

International trauma training occurs when professionals with expertise in trauma mental health train local practitioners to respond optimally to trauma-related problems in the international arena. The ISTSS Board created the Task Force on International Trauma Training in November 1999 to address this increasingly common activity. The overall goal of the Task Force is to improve international trauma training as it is currently practiced.

The Task Force began this work by writing Guidelines. The Task Force engaged in a 1-year dialogue on the practice of international training, drawing upon field experience, literature review, and consultation with key informants. This statement was prepared on the basis of shared dialogue, consensus decision making, and a writing process involving all Task Force members. It was disseminated for review to more than 200 professionals in more than 60 service and academic organizations. Written and oral suggestions were incorporated and revisions made on the basis of consensus. The Guidelines were approved and accepted by the ISTSS Board of Directors and were published in the peer-reviewed journal Psychiatry in Summer 2002.

These Guidelines address four dimensions: (1) values; (2) contextual challenges in societies during or after conflicts; (3) core curricular elements; and (4) monitoring and evaluation. They aim to improve international training in mental health and psychosocial interventions for trauma exposed populations by providing principles and strategies intended to steer those who seek informed recommendations, by generating focused debates on areas where there is yet no broad consensus, and by stimulating research and inquiry.

The Task Force is using the guidelines as means for advancing the dialogue on international trauma training in several sectors including within ISTSS, within other professional societies, with professionals in other relevant service and academic organizations, and with consumers. They are being widely distributed, nationally and internationally, used in trainings and teachings, and posted on the Web.

The Task Force believes that through dialogue and collaborations with NGO's, and academic and research institutions it will advance its primary aim. In 2003, the ISTSS Task Force asked David Eisenman, M.D., M.S.H.S. of UCLA School of Medicine and RAND Corporation to lead a working group on adapting and specifying the Task Force's Guidelines for use in training primary care providers. RAND agreed to collaborate and is funding the ISTSS/RAND International Trauma Training for Primary Care project, with matching funds from a foundation grant to the ICORC. Dr. Eisenman has recruited several international experts in primary care and trauma who will work with the existing task force on this project. Results of this project are expected in late 2003.

The chair of the Task Force is Stevan Weine and the co-chair is Yael Danieli. The leader of the International Trauma Training for Primary Care initiative is David Eisenman.

Guidelines for International Training in Mental Health and Psychosocial Interventions for Trauma Exposed Populations in Clinical and Community Settings
Steven Weine, Yael Danieli, Derick Silove, Mark Van Ommeren, Johm A. Fairbank, Jack Saul, for the Task Force on International Trauma Training of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies