Link-By-Link: Creating Community With Survivors Of Torture

Submitted to CERIS

I. Objectives

The aims of the project were to:

1. Address the delivery of settlement services to immigrant populations, specifically refugees who have survived torture, with general implications for settlement services.

2. Document the best practices of a core volunteer program based on a befriending relationship between volunteer and client sustained by staff and agency resources.

3. Illuminate the dynamics of these relationships and larger settlement issues with populations that have experienced collective trauma.

4. Identify community building processes that facilitate the participation of newcomers to the host society and that foster citizenship; and equivalent processes for the more established and/or Canadian volunteers.

5. Draw implications for policy, programs, professional training and higher education.

The nature of the project lends itself to the development of theoretical knowledge alongside program- and policy-relevant recommendations. The community-university partnership colours the perspectives presented. Multiple dissemination formats were planned aimed at scholarly, policy, and agency audiences.

The research team brings together the experience of conceptual, methodological, programmatic knowledge about refugees and qualitative research methodology (A. Chambon); understanding of the nature of helping relationships and of social networks (B. Shapiro); community development process and citizenship (S. McGrath); program development with survivors of torture, and volunteer program specifically (M. Abai); service delivery with survivors of torture (T. Dremetsikas). Our research assistant contributes knowledge about cultural epistemology (Aboriginal) and international development, alongside qualitative methods (S. Dudziak). The writer of the CCVT report, graduate student and founding director of CCVT, brings extensive understanding to the project (J. Simalchik).

II. Conduct of the Project

Participants:

A summary profile of the participants in the study shows that 51 persons participated: 31 females, 20 males, of diverse national backgrounds: Afghanistan, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia, Canada, Columbia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, England, Ethiopia, Gambia, Germany, Guatemala, Iran, Ireland, Jamaica, Liberia, Mexico, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania (22 countries).

The project was run in distinct phases and formats:

Phase I consisted (a) in team meetings between the university and community researchers and the volunteer program coordinator; (b) setting up and running an Advisory Committee with 3 clients (friends) and 3 volunteers (befrienders) joining the 3 staff members involved in the project.

Phase II consisted in one focus group with each of the three constituencies:

volunteers (befrienders), clients (friends) and staff, to capture the perspective of each group of participants. The focus groups had feedback sessions.

Phase III consisted in 7 small group "triad interviews" with one member from each of the constituencies to replicate the befriending relationship (client-volunteer-staff).

Phase IV consisted in "negative case" interviews with individuals to examine conditions under which befriending relationships had not worked out.

Phase V is a systematic analysis of agency documents that were processed not as background materials but as textual data.

The data analysis scheme was developed to maximize the richness of the findings and to render complex and embedded meanings. It is an innovative approach which combines: (a) descriptive analysis with an evolving analytical framework (grounded theory); (b) global analysis per meeting, treating each meeting as an event; (c) narrative analysis around key narrative figures. Analysis was conducted phase by phase, and by a minimum of two researchers per phase. The dialogical aspect consisted in interactional interpretation that expanded individual analyses.

Ethical Considerations

Ethical principles and guidelines were laid-out at the outset by CCVT. The guidelines emphasize the principles of non-intrusion, non-disruption of the agency, and most of all, avoidance of trauma exploration or retraumatization. The team developed additional principles of conduct for the project, identified as an ethics of witnessing, with congruent stance by the researchers. The conduct of the initial phase underscored the fundamental requirement of building trusting relationships.

The time-frame of the project was extended due to the sabbatical leave of the leading researcher which slowed down the project. Further, the scope of the research was modified from an initial small project to an extensive research programme. This is due to the quality of the findings and the effectiveness of the research team.

III. Strengths and Limitations of the Methodology

The initial methodology, based on a naturalistic inquiry model, was modified to fit the workings and philosophy of the organization. It became an interpretive-hermeneutic type of research that is process oriented (Moss, 1998) and that incorporates an explicit dialogical dimension (Kvale, 1996). The participatory orientation was sustained and became instrumental in making this change.

Strengths:

• Multiple formats of data collection and data analysis (triangulation).
• Data obtained and analyzed from the perspectives of the different constituencies including feedback session for validation and complementary interpretation.
• Positive and negative case materials were examined to identify the conditions for best practices. Some informants acted as "controls" in providing information about successful and unsuccessful befriending relations.
• The range of national backgrounds of the participants increased the scope of the cultural dimension of the study.
• Participatory approach : (a) The research partnership between community and university researchers was active in every research phase, from project development, to data collection and data analysis. (b) The Advisory Committee was instrumental initially in reorienting the project, and monitored the findings and their interpretation, particularly as regard to their implications. (c) Findings from individual sessions were vetted with the participants.
• The research team adopted a reflective stance throughout the project.

Limitations:

• Sampling; staff selected the sample that is purposive rather than "representative."
• The sample was tilted towards earlier cases with fewer recent cases; however, this provided information on the duration of long-term relationships.
• Given the sample size, the range of national backgrounds precluded cross-national comparisons.
• The intended method of data collection with the triads aimed at tracing the developmental history of those relationships (modified life-history) was not successful. Those interviews explored instead the negotiated meaning of the relationships.
• The design is retrospective; a longitudinal study would be valuable.
• Organizational change at the time of the research was a relevant factor. The study focused mostly on the period prior to the turnover of the Volunteer Coordinator.

IV. Findings

 

The project achieved the balance among knowledge development for applied service purposes, programmatic and policy considerations, formal theory development and transformative methods. The findings are presented accordingly.

A complex set of effects caused by collective trauma and torture is played out in the interpersonal relation of befriending between volunteer and client. Parallel processes take place which concern (a) disclosure of the trauma and survivor identity - this requires the difficult task of listening/talking; (b) a shifting pattern of connecting-disconnecting which requires a flexible yet supportive and sustained pattern of relation; (c) difficulties to turn outward to people and institutions that influence the process of integration; this requires a dynamic of "accompaniment"; (e) the staff provide an essential support for the establishment and maintenance of the relationship. The staff act as mediators of the relationship; fundamentally provide a "holding environment" throughout the relation, with increasing autonomy of the client; (f) the befriending relation occurs in a web of relations that extends beyond the two individuals concerned; (g) the Centre creates an informal culture of community, akin to a web of relations, with key staff, but also other staff members and other programs in the Centre that provide complementary support and key linkages.

The construction of the relationship of "befriending" implies the creation of a new web of relations for newcomers who come from "fractured communities". This new relationship is artificial initially, but becomes a deep-seated relation akin to an extended family, or to "soulmates". This relation is distinct from a bureaucratic service relation. It has its ebbs and flows but cannot be restricted to a service type contact. It is also contained and cannot become an employer-employee relation for instance. There are limits upon the possibilities of extending the relation to informal contacts, due the concern over confidentiality and protection of the client.

All participants gain in the relationship. Client strengths emerge through reaffirming their sense of humanity. Over time, clients desire to "give back" and assist others as their ability to make their own connections expands. Volunteers gain deeper self-knowledge as they learn from and experience another culture at the interpersonal level. They also become advocates through the process of accompaniment during the settlement period. Staff gain similarly in knowledge and skills.

A web of relations is created through the existence of the Befriending Program into an array of personal contacts which become part of the client’s social world. The web highlights the multiple connections that are woven in the agency among its programs as a model of continuity, and between CCVT and outside resources.

A set of theoretical findings have been sketched out and will be further developed in preparing academic publications. Indeed, the project has yielded not only substantive findings but also formal theoretical issues for consideration that are relevant beyond the specific case and the focal issue. At this point we can name the following:

1. The conceptual link between micro-level phenomena at the level of personal and interpersonal experience and macro-level processes -- societal and institutional -- which shape a particular group’s experience: how mental health intersects with the social. An implication In knowledge terms has been that traumatic life conditions can be approached in their community manifestations.

2. The study has brought to bear considerations about the nature of a type of social relationships that is neither professional or bureaucratic in nature nor "natural." This relationship type is forged with the purpose of helping and protecting. It follows a dual pattern of avoiding the constraints of the professional/bureaucratic construct and emulating the "naturalness" of the unmediated. These considerations are applicable to certain volunteer-client relationships and are conceptually relevant to notions about "convened networks", "formed groups," "intentional communities" and "therapeutic communities." Such instances can be found in half-way houses, sheltered housing, adoptive and fostering and other ‘surrogate" relationships. Relationships of this sort present their own complexities, tensions, dynamics and opportunities which this project has had the capacity to explore.

3. The social building of ties in web-like relations inside the program and without

suggests a line of inquiry into the development of citizenship in a multi-textured society, with natural, professional, and intermediate type of relations. We came to discover the versatile functioning of web of relations at the organizational level, and in the client’s life. We also came to account for the social building of ties as a vehicle for citizenship.

Methodological Innovations and Findings

Several methodological considerations have emerged from the study:

1. The developmental conduct of research as process research fostered by the community-university partnership.

2. Group modalities of inquiry, from data collection to data analysis.

3. Oral and written formats of inquiry and what each yields.

4. Dialogical analysis as interpretive conversations, systematically pursued.

5. Various forms of authoring as multiple strategies of dissemination.

6. A research stance as witnessing.

 

 

 

VII. Implications

Implications are for (1) policy, (2) program development/organizational development including training; (3) education; (4) university-community research partnership.

The important role of settlement services with refugees and particularly with survivors of torture is evidenced in this research. A number of policy considerations are developed in greater detail in the CCVT Report and in papers. We highlight the following:

1. The effective role of Volunteer Programs of the Befriending type in working with refugees, survivors of torture, and more generally in settlement services. Volunteers provide a crucial link and a rehabilitative connection to society in view of facilitating the active participation of newcomers in Canada. Therefore, resources and training

should be made available to obtain effective programs. There is a need to track the long-term effects of such interventions.

1. The research indicates that staff play a pivotal role in establishing and sustaining the befriending relationships and the integration of newcomers, particularly vulnerable populations such as survivors of torture. Core staff resources and training are fundamental for the success of such programs. The volunteer relationship cannot function without staff.

2. A comprehensive approach to integrated settlement services is very important in that it fosters a web of relations which complements and supports the volunteer-client relationship. This feature seems crucial for community integration and citizenship.

3. Given the complexity of collective trauma and the usefulness of multiple mechanisms of support, there is a need for additional documentation and research on the diverse mechanisms that promote the effective rehabilitation of survivors of torture.

4. The role of family ties in the survivor’s web of relations is an integral part of their successful integration. The extent of these family ties varies and pertains to the individual situation of refugees, but also, and importantly, to the existing immigration policy on family reunification -- an issue to be further examined.

 

Issues were identified that can strengthen the training component of the Program as it pertains to volunteers and staff.

What is most striking is the difficult challenge that volunteers, staff and clients face. The issue for training is how to develop (1) some fundamental learning principles, building on what the agency has already done, which is quite extensive already;

(2) training modules that do not propose a prescriptive knowledge but instead involve the learner in identifying the complex challenges of this work.

Training materials will be developed as an outcome of the research according to a mixed format which includes (a) lessons to be learned, (b) stories to be heard -- drawing from our narrative analysis -- and (c) a set of dilemmas that will be derived from a secondary analysis. For instance: (I) holding together the importance of listening and the phenomenon of silencing around trauma; (ii) the principle of availability beyond strict service definition, and the delicate issue of boundaries; (iii) disclosure, confidentiality and the limits of expanding networks, etc.. Such learning require an additional round of analysis.

Building on the above considerations, the development of educational materials for undergraduate and graduate students in relevant fields -- education, social work, health, legal studies etc -- will follow the learning dilemmas and learning principles articulated with theories from the various disciplines. There is a need to develop this aspect beyond the actual findings.

The research partnership between university partners and community/agency partners has been successful for both sides. The partnership addressed community and academic interests and needs, and has achieved mutual learning for the partners.

The experience of the community NGO partner is of a comfortable, flexible non intrusive research partnership built an inclusive environment sustained by a collegial relationship that evolved over many years. University partners have created a bridge to network of academics to further the rehabilitation movement in the specific research activities and in public education tasks.

The experience of university researchers is of a supportive partner whose grounded understanding and insight into the issues and relationships has greatly enhanced the quality of the research. Also, of a partner that has been able to cope with the different pace at which academic research is conducted, and reoriented the research when needed.

Overall, this research as been timely and important.

A serious consideration about resources has been continuously raised by each of the partners during the project: to more adequately reflect the time and resources distribution in the partnership. The time commitment has clearly outweighed the financial resources allocated particularly to the NGO which does not have the human nor the financial resources to research. This has meant that the community researchers, agency staff have given of their time and resources without compensation. At a time of shrinking resources in community-based services, such expectation is not realistic and takes place at the cost of service. The team believes that it would be advisable that funding bodies take the conditions of operation into consideration when encouraging research partnerships, and therefore that NGOs (in this instance) be compensated proportionately to their input in research activities.

VI. Dissemination to Date

Dissemination activities have included publications, agency report and presentations. Anticipated activities are also identified.

 

Scholarly Publications: 1 Book Chapter; 1 Conference Proceeding.

Chambon, A., Abai, M. Shapiro, B., McGrath, S., Dremetsikas, T., & Dudziak, S. (1998). L’interculturel à l’aune des traumatismes communautaires: Les réfugiés

survivants de la torture. In K. Fall et al. (Eds.), Champs multiculturels, transactions interculturelles : des théories, des pratiques, des analyses (pp. 133-155). Paris/Montréal: L’Harmattan.

The chapter will be made available on the web-sites of CCVT and of CERIS.

 

Chambon, A., Abai, M., Dremetsikas, T., McGrath, S. , & Shapiro, B. (1998, forthcoming). Methodology in university-community research partnerships: The Link-by-Link project as case study. Conference Proceedings of Metropolis II. Paper revised from the presentation in the Plenary Session on Successful Partnerships. Montréal, November 1997. 16pp. (English and French versions).

This paper is available on the web-site of CCVT, and has received positive feedback.

Abai, M., Chambon, A., and team. -- CCVT Link Report. Currently in draft form (50 pages) is to be vetted and finalized.

Chambon, A., Abai, M., McGrath, S., & Dremetsikas, T. (1997). "Community partnership changes the nature of the research activity." Presentation to Centre of Excellence on Research on Immigration and Settlement (CERIS), Research Seminar Series. Toronto: November 13.

Chambon, A. , & Dremetsikas, T. (1997). "Link by Link: Community-University Partnership in Research. Presented at a Plenary Session on Partnership. The National Conference of the Metropolis Project. Montreal. Panel Presentation on the Nature of the Partnerships. November 25.

Dremetsikas, T., Chambon, A., McGrath, S., Shapiro, B.Z., & Dudziak, S. (1997). Preliminary findings of the Link by Link project. Metropolis Conference, Public Service Symposium. Montreal, November 25.

Dudziak, S. 1997. Presentation of project methodology to graduate Research Methods Class in social work (SWK 4508), Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto.

Abstracts have been submitted to conferences and for journal call for papers on the issue of Community building and Citizenship. Pending

Contact was established with an agency working in Paris (France) with a comparable population and a similar interdisciplinary community-based approach, le Centre Primo Levi. Project materials will be shared with this organization.

VII. Anticipated Dissemination Activities and Extensions of the Project

Anticipated activities which report on the findings, give visibility to the partnership and address some of the policy and service implications of the project – they are currently unfunded:

• Scholarly publications will be developed on the topics of :

Citizenship and community relations
Organizations in settlement services
The micro-macro link regarding developing relationships with survivors of torture
Working with refugees survivors of torture
Research process methodology

• Initial contact has been made with Columbia University Press for a book project whose working title is currently: In the Shadow of the Eclipse
• Conference of related agencies with volunteer program to share findings and explore the possibility of developing common core principles and program activities, with monitoring.
• Service-Policy document for policy makers and funders.
• Service Training Materials for Volunteers and for Staff
• Educational Materials

 

Note: A periodical report of such dissemination activities will be communicated to CERIS.

II. Research Training in the Project

The project was a team effort in which all participants developed research skills of a complementary nature. We wish to indicate the research training of graduate students in the project.

As mentioned earlier, one research assistant, Suzanne Dudziak, has accompanied the project since Phase II and made a substantial contribution. The project has provided her with an opportunity to be involved in the data collection sessions, recording the data, and developing the data analysis scheme and analytical categories. She has used the NUDIST qualitative software package for grounded data analysis. She has overseen the different components of analysis to ensure their integration. Her contribution is already reflected in our first publication on the findings, and she will coauthor additional papers that we will be submitting for publication. She has herself presented the methodology of our project in a graduate class on research methods.

Additional graduate students: The person responsible for drafting the CCVT Report, Joan Simalchik, was also exposed to the team’s data analysis discussions and has had input in conceptualizing the significance of the project. The research activities of a third student consisted in the transcription of focus group sessions.

Respectfully submitted,
Toronto, October 1998

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