We want to celebrate Dr. Nimo Bokore, LERRN Co-Investigator and Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Carleton University, who recently received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for an innovative and timely project called “Rethinking Resettlement And Integration: Creating Cultural-Based Trauma-Informed Intervention.”
Dr. Nimo Bokore is leading a project devoted to providing cultural-based trauma responses to refugees.
The complex needs of survivors wars have left service providers in the West struggling to use the “one size fits all” Western-style intervention model that doesn’t provide the specific, cultural-based trauma responses service users need to help them resettle in their new country. As a result, the Somali Center For Family Services (SCFS), an Ottawa-based community organization which serves refugees from diverse non-western countries, asked Dr. Bokore to lead a collaborative study to create a cultural-based trauma-informed intervention.
From there, the project “Rethinking Resettlement And Integration: Creating Cultural-Based Trauma-Informed Intervention” was born. The project is based on Participatory Research (CBPR) that responds to SCFS needs and will work on the development of a culturally-based trauma intervention model (CBTI). The goal of this project is to extend the benefits of CBTI beyond SCFS to other community organizations, thus contributing to the programming of other resettlement services and data for future research.
Dr. Bokore says “The team of researchers in this study recognizes the need to provide a lasting integration necessary to develop and implement services/policies that promote healing.”
This project strives to create a practice model that will benefit communities in Canada and beyond. Dr. Bokore hopes that each resettled refugee will have access to need-based services that are informed by a cultural-based and trauma-informed intervention.
The project team is comprised of:
● Dr. Patricia McGuire, Professor at Carleton University’s School of Social Work, (co-applicant- academic).
● Dr. James Milner, Director of Local Engagement Refugee Research Network (LERRN), Associate Professor of Political Science at Carleton University (co-applicant- academic).
● Dr. Susan McGrath, Professor Emerita, York University School of Social Work and Centre for Refugee Studies (co-applicant- academic).
● Dr. Michaela Hynie, Faculty of Psychology and the Centre for Refugee Studies at York University (co-applicant- academic).
● Dr. Regine King, Associate Professor at the University of Calgary (co-applicant- academic).
● Mr. Abdirizak Karod and Dr. Samer Al-Jbawi (Collaborators) at SCFS and expertise in post resettlement programs.
Congratulations once again, Dr. Bokore! We look forward to seeing the great impact and benefits of this work.