Center For Empowering Refugees And Immigrants Inc - Ceri

Programs: Ceris older adult clients, all genocide survivors, are gradually taking on a leadership role in their family and community, and a number are now ready to take on new levels of healing. Younger clients, the children and grandchildren of these survivors, are avoiding risky behaviors and creating a strong vision for their future. Over the last year, ceri has increased the number of adult and youth clients it serves. To meet this increased demand for its services ceri has incrementally increased its clinical service hours and wellness programming and expanded its intern program. Ceri now has three interns who provide individual, family, and group therapy, and case management, as well as support for various wellness activities. This has allowed for more clients to be seen and for more activitiesboth generation-specific and cross-generationalto be offered. Ceri added two new programs to its wellness offerings over the last year. In the fall, ceri contracted with artogether, a local nonprofit that does expressive arts therapy with refugees, led by refugees. During the contract period, artogether worked with ceri youth to help them use art as a means to explore issues of identity and self-expression. This spring, ceri also introduced a drama therapy pilot program for its older adult clients, all genocide survivors. As these clients have continued in their recovery, quite a few are now ready to explore new levels of healing. The drama therapy group, led by a professional in the field who has worked with many refugee communities, provides a safe place for these survivors to tell their story and then see it acted out by drama therapy students, an experience that can be very healing. Another important development this year was that ceri increased its community outreach. Ceri staff gave presentations to professionals at local mental health agencies, hospitals, universities, and community groups that serve refugees and asylees, to inform them about the ceri model and offer recommendations for delivering culturally-sensitive trauma-informed mental health services to refugee families. Ceri also welcomed site visits from other agencies who wished to observe its programs. As ceris older adult clients heal over time, they are beginning to reclaim their relationship to their home country, something which has been too painful in the past. This year, ceri again partnered with cja to follow up on this project, holding a daylong celebration and feast at the ceri center, with monks from two different local cambodian buddhist temples, to honor those who had died during the khmer rouge genocide. The event was attended by 120+ ceri clients and community members. This year, ceri clients, who are already supporting an orphanage in cambodia, decided to raise funds to build housing for elders in cambodia who had been abandoned by their families. In june 2018, several ceri staff members and clients went to cambodia to work on building houses for this new living community for elders and also bought supplies for local schools in the area. This ongoing work has helped clients to ease somewhat the persistent feelings of guilt and sadness associated in their minds with cambodia and has given them a sense of purpose and a way to give back to their community. These efforts are particularly noteworthy as all of ceris adult and older adult clients are unemployed and live on disability, due to post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd).