RTI – REFUGEE TRAUMA INITIATIVE

RTI offers essential programmes for refugees.

Dekeyser&Friends is providing ongoing support to the Refugee Trauma Initiative (RTI), which offers vital programs to refugees in Greece. With the aim of helping vulnerable refugees cope with the daily challenges of survival, RTI provides group, family, and individual support in camps in Northern Greece. Their projects assist more than 2,000 men, women, and children and over 350 volunteers and aid workers. By continuing to reach out and inspire refugee children and adolescents, as well as adults, RTI hopes to help to heal their trauma and restore their hope for the future.

RTI runs two women’s groups in the Caritas shelter in Epanomi, where they have been providing early childhood care and development services since March 2017; a weekly art therapy group in collaboration with Swiss Cross at their Sindos community center; and psychosocial support for women and adolescents. In these groups, participants can re-connect with people their own age who may be experiencing similar difficulties.

RTI was established to meet the psychological and emotional needs of refugees and reduce the potentially traumatic consequences of displacement. They work to enhance refugees’ well-being, to build resilience, and to support successful integration into their new communities. RTI offers culturally appropriate psychosocial support to refugee children and adults in their native languages as well as providing training and support to build the capacity of those humanitarian aid workers and volunteers working with refugees.