World*Go*Round, Vol. 31, No. 2, March, 2003

Letter from the President 

If you only read one of my President’s letters all year, please make it this one.

Children are truly the most innocent victims of war. I think of this when I see television news stories in the United States showing parents in the military service hugging their children before setting off for the Middle East, not knowing if they willreturn. I also think of this when I learn that children make up over half the population of Iraq. These are the stories that dominate the news in my country as I write this column. There are countless more stories of children as victims of war that don’t get published or aired because the corners of the world in which they happen are not on our radar screens at the present time.

I have never felt more helpless to protect children as in the past few weeks as I watched the world prepare for war. And knowing that feeling safe is a critical ingredient for the mental health of children, that feeling of helplessness pains me all the more.

Taking action is the best antidote to helplessness that I know of. Unfortunately, it feels like my voice goes unheard on the political front line in the United States, so I need to look for other ways to take action. So I turn to ISPA.

One of ISPA’s largest and most active committees is the International Crisis Response Network (ICRN). This group, composed of many ISPA members around the world, keep an active Listserv going, put on symposia at each summer’s colloquia that are among the best attended offerings, and provide material to ISPA’s website on a regular basis. It was this group that was mobilized to translate NASP materials into several foreign languages following the World Trade Center attack in 2001. And it is this group that is spearheading an effort to create an international crisis response team that can respond quickly and effectively when crises occur anywhere in the world. The crises that this team would respond to are, of course, not just man- made crises such as those caused by war or terrorism, but also include natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes. What better role for ISPA than this effort to help restore safety and security to children in time of crisis. The ICRN has developed a project proposal for which it is now seeking funding. The project objectives are:

•To form an international crisis response team, who can organize and mobilize resources for areas of mass disasters and help the local team of school psychologists to manage after- shocks needs in their schools and help them get organized.

•To develop programs for continuous advancement of professionals by upgrading their education and training with novel tools and modalities in crisis intervention.

•To create means for "helping- the- helpers" among school psychologists around the world thereby avoiding their burnout and compassion fatigue.

•To build a framework for international periodic conferences of knowledge sharing on issues of crisis intervention and management.

•To create an Internet knowledge base and basic training platform in the various local languages through NASP and ISPA web sites, thereby elevating and improving professional proficiency in the  crisis arena.

This is an ambitious endeavor that under normal circumstances might take years to develop. But the need is immediate if not sooner, and I would like to ask ISPA members’ help in moving The project forward as fast as possible.
If you would like to donate time, energy, and resources to this project, please contact the co-chairs of the ISPA ICRN, Nevin Dolek and Shane Jimerson. Their email addresses are: dolek@escortnet.com and Jimerson@education.ucsb.edu

At the present time, however, what’s needed most is financial assistance. In order to approach potential funding sources, we need to demonstrate that ISPA is also contributing in a significant way to the financial costs such a project entails. We have already collected over $1200 in donations to the Crisis Intervention Fund, through individual contributions and through the dues check- off box on the membership form. If we can grow this fund, it will put us in a better position to find matching grants or other funding sources.

As soon as I finish writing this column, I will be sending off a personal check with my own donation to ISPA’s crisis fund. In this small way I can combat the powerlessness I feel as I watch the world become increasingly dangerous to children.

I hope you will join me in contributing to this important initiative.

Peg Dawson, President 

If you would like to contribute to the fund, please make a check out to Crisis Intervention Fund and mail it to: ISPA Central Office, Hans Knudsens Plads 1A, 1. tv., DK- 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.