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Meaningful World - Summer 2008 Newsletter

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  • Meaningful World - Summer 2008 Newsletter

    Association for Trauma Outreach and
    Prevention, 185 E 85 Street, New York, NY 10028


    UPCOMING EVENTS

    June 11-22
    Follow-up mission to Armenia

    June 28
    All day training on "Non-Violence, Peace Building, Conflict
    Transformation , Anger Management, Self-Empowerment, Assertiveness,
    and Forgiveness". The training session will be held at Fordham
    University (Lincoln Center Campus).

    July 20-25
    XXIX International Congress of Psychology held in Berlin,
    Germany. www.icp2008.de

    August 3
    White water rafting on Delaware River at Kittattinny Canoes

    August 14-17
    American Psychological Association Convention in Boston,
    Massachusetts, www.apa.org

    September 3-5
    61st Annual DPI/NGO Conference. Theme: "Reaffirming Human Rights for
    All: The Universal Declaration at 60". United Nation's Educational,
    Scientific and Cultural Organization will host a three day event at
    their headquarters in Paris, France. Dr. Kalayjian has organized and
    will chair workshop on "Women's Rights are Human Rights: Cases from
    Africa, Caucuses, Europe and the Middle East".

    September 18
    International Day at Fordham University from 3pm-5pm. For additional
    information, please contact [email protected]

    September 19-21
    Mind-Body-Spirit Connection for Health and Happiness at the Ararat
    Center. Dr. Kalayjian is key note speaker and will present on "Empower
    Yourself Through Movement, Laughter, Forgiveness, and
    Love". www.araratcenter.org

    September 23-29
    Training Session in Mexico City

    October 20-24
    UN Week of Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns. The UN will
    celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human
    Rights

    October 24
    ATOP's newly formed group on Healing, Transformation and Spirituality
    will host a workshop on "Seeds of Forgiveness" from 10am
    to 12pm

    November 25
    UN's Day on Prevention of Violence Against Women

    November 30
    UN's Psychology Day

    December 5
    Healing Circle held at Fordham University




    __________




    PAST
    EVENTS

    April 1-2
    UN General Assembly Thematic Debate on the Millennium Development
    Goals

    April15
    "The Lark Farm" a film about genocide was shown at Two Boots Pioneer
    Theater in New York. A discussion about genocide and the movie was
    held directly after the film.

    April 18
    NEAA Teacher's College Columbia. 45th Annual Isabel Maitland Stewart
    Conference on Research in Nursing and Awards luncheon. The theme was
    "Restructuring the Nursing Environment: Self Sufficiency, Innovation
    and New Directions".

    April 24
    General Committee meeting of the UN NGO Committee on Spirituality,
    Values, and Global Concerns. Dr. Kalayjian was the Keeper of the
    Sacred.

    May 29-31
    WNGE Board of Directors Retreat at Fielding Graduate University held
    in Santa Barbara, California.







    MEANINGFUL WORLD

    ATOP Forms Working Group at UN on
    Healing, Transformation and Spirituality
    The NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values, and Global Concerns has
    just approved a new working group entitled 'Healing, Transformation, &
    Spirituality'.
    The Committee aims to integrate spirituality and values into all
    areas of the United Nations agenda and of public policy. We aspire to
    support the spiritual principles, global ethics and universal values
    such as respect, justice, peace, dignity, freedom, responsibility and
    cooperation, that underlie the work of the United Nations as reflected
    in the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of
    Human Rights.
    In order to fulfill the promise of the United Nations to create a
    more peaceful, just and sustainable world, we support the recognition
    and acceptance that spirituality and adherence to universal values are
    key factors in providing solutions to global concerns. We believe that
    an increased awareness and application of the importance of a value,
    spirit and soul conscious dimension at all levels of society
    particularly at the United Nations will allow for the finest and the
    highest levels of human potential to flourish for the benefit of all.
    This working group is spearheaded by Dr. Kalayjian supported by
    Georgina Galanis, The UN Representative of the Institute for
    InterBalkan Relations, of Athens, Greece, and Dr. William Gellermann,
    UN Representative of the Communication Coordination Committee for the
    United Nations (CCC/UN). Invited Board of Advisers include: JP
    Farrell, Executive Director of the Global Health Chaplaincy, NY, &
    Dr. John Bolling of the Soul Centered Therapy in Harlem, NY.
    For additional information on the NGO Committee on
    Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns and Dr. Kalayjian's newly
    formed group within the Committee, kindly visit CSVGC-ny.org.
    ___________________

    On April 4, 60 people attended the Symposium on -The Roots of Evil- at
    Fordham University, where Rachel Dink from Istanbul accepted a
    posthumous award to her murdered husband, Istanbul journalist Hrant
    Dink (1952-2006).

    Dr. Kalayjian introducing Ms. Rakel Dink and presenting her with The
    2008 Outstanding Achievement Award Plaque.


    Rakel Dink, wife of Hrant Dink, a humanitarian assassinated for his
    views of non-violence and human rights in Turkey.

    For more information about the event, please read The Mirror
    Spectator's "Dinner for Rakel Dink at Diocese":
    www.mirrorspectator.com/2008.04.
    __ _________________

    Intern Spotlight: Katherine Czado

    Katherine Czado joined the Meaningful World family as an intern after
    completing Dr. Kalayjian's Practicum in Psychology course at Fordham
    University. Katherine has become the Meaningful World newsletter
    coordinator and contributes to activities sponsored by the
    organization.
    Katherine will be beginning her senior year at Fordham University
    where she is a Psychology major. Throughout her years at Fordham, she
    has completed volunteer internships at The Rosedale Center located in
    the Bronx, New York and Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, New York. At
    Rosedale, she mentored and tutored girls within the Bronx
    community. While interning at Belleview Hospital, Katherine worked
    with Child Life and Development pre-hospitalization program and
    volunteered in the pediatric clinic's playroom.
    This summer Katherine is living in Arizona and will do volunteer
    work in the downtown area of Phoenix. Katherine is currently preparing
    for application to graduate school and would like to complete her
    doctorate in Clinical Psychology.

    "Lunch with Thomas James,
    Provost and Dean of the College"
    The NEAA Courier's spring edition spotlighted the March 4, 2008 event
    held at Teacher's College:
    "Ani Kalayjian and Connie Vance joined other alums, faculty, and
    staff at TC on March 4, 2008 to meet with the new Provost and Dean of
    the College, Thomas James, and with professor Erica Walker who lead a
    discussion of mathematics education policy. Provost James spoke of the
    importance of faculty research and connecting this with the human
    community. Human needs are enormous, and Dr. James said that learning
    is key. He called on us to leverage human learning to growth and
    healing, by integrating the old wisdom with the new technologies."
    For the entire article and more information, please visit
    tcneaa.org.

    ATOP & SCORE Teach Value of Community Service

    By: Amanda Fogle, ATOP program coordinator
    On Friday June 6 ATOP partnered with SCORE in order to raise funds for
    ATOP's Community Enrichment program. SCORE! Educational Centers works
    with children in grades pre-K through 10th grade to help them achieve
    their goals and reach their academic potential in math, reading,
    spelling, and writing.
    ATOP began working with Fund for Armenian Relief (from here on
    known as FAR) in December of 07 to create a partnership to raise funds
    for the center. The goal of the partnership is to assist FAR with
    funding to run many of its children and family programs, these
    programs include supportive as well as preventive services.
    ATOP and SCORE partnered to create a community service program in
    which children learned about the important of community service
    whether it be local or in this case international. The children set a
    goal of $ 200.00 to raise for FAR and were able to reach the
    goal. ATOP's team rewarded the kids with a pizza party to celebrate
    their efforts. The children's' faces lit up as they ate together and
    shared stories about how they managed to raise the money. After
    dinner, ATOP led the children in some exciting team-building
    exercises. The kids laughed and played, all the while learning the
    value of team-work, outreach and community building.
    ATOP will seek to continue to build its relationship with SCORE in
    the future by partnering on similar events. TO learn more about SCORE
    educational centers please visit: www.escore.com, to learn more about
    ATOP's community enrichment program please contact Amanda Fogle or in
    her absence Ani Kalayjian.

    Continued Work with WNGE
    The WGNE, Worldwide Network for Gender Empowerment, is an
    international community of activists and scholars who are committed to
    further knowledge and research of gender issues.
    The WGNE participates in action research on many themes including
    the impact of globalization, diversity, and prevention of violence and
    is affiliated with Fielding Graduate University.
    Dr. Kalayjian has worked with the group for many years and is
    pleased to share that streaming video has been recently added to the
    WNGE's website. For more information on the group or work done with
    Dr. Kalayjian, please visit fielding.edu/wnge/index.htm.


    Kalayjian Featured in Azad Hye
    Dr. Kalayjian recently was interviewed in Azad Hye, a Middle Eastern
    Armenian newsletter. The following is the some of the March 10
    interview transcript:
    Q: You have been dealing with trauma therapy in Armenian and other
    instances. How can an event like the Armenian Genocide that happened
    almost a century ago affect the lives of modern day Armenians? At what
    stage of the healing from the Genocide trauma we are situated as a
    nation?
    A: I was really tired of years of people denying and trying to
    combat and react to revisionist Turkish historians, and Turkish
    government propagandas. I thought the best way to affirm that the
    Genocide has taken place was to reach out to the scholarly community,
    show them that these are the reactions of the Genocide survivors. Once
    you present what the survivors are feeling, there is less question of
    whether it happened or not, because you are looking at the outcome,
    almost like a fait accompli. That was the very first paper that was
    published on the Genocide because it was a systematic research. Forty
    survivors were interviewed using the same questionnaire and we
    compiled and analyzed the findings and we had it published in the
    Journal of Traumatic Stress. When we finished the paper, it was a
    25-30 page paper. But the Journal's Editorial Board (which comprised
    of 75% Jewish scholars) objected to the historical view because of the
    Turkish pressure. We handed it in 1991 an
    d it
    was published in 1995. It's natural to wait 1-2 years to have the
    article approved but we went back and forth through several
    revisions. It wasn't because of the merit of the research; it was only
    the historical information that we had to revise. That shows the
    political nature of the article and the subject.
    For more information on Dr. Kalayjian and her work within the
    Armenian culture, kindly visit meaningfulworld.com.

    ATOP's Mental Health Outreach Project to Armenia Second Team Press
    Release June 2008
    New York, NY: The Association for Trauma Outreach and Prevention
    (ATOP) has organized the second team of the Mental Health Outreach
    Project (MHOP) in Armenia from June 12- 22. Dr. Ani Kalayjian and Ani
    Jilozian, President and Public Relations Coordinator for ATOP,
    respectively, will be delivering this mission to Armenia. They will be
    conducting post-disaster humanitarian outreach training projects,
    delivering lectures, working with refugees from Iraq, visiting
    orphanages, and setting agendas for collaborative research and future
    trainings. This MHOP team will be conducting training at the Stress
    Center. In addition the MHOP team will visit the FAR Children's Center
    to train the personnel, social workers, and psychologists in
    preventative and restoration methods for treating children with
    trauma. They will utilize Dr. Kalayjian's Biopsychosocial & Spiritual
    Model to administer the program.
    The team will also work with the Office of UN High Commissioner for
    Refugees in Yerevan who are working with the Iraqi refugees migrated
    to Armenia.
    The team will visit various children's centers (previously called
    orphanages) as part of second phase of a 10-year follow-up mission to
    observe progress and development. Donations of clothing and supplies
    from several generous individuals will be given out at these centers.
    The team has been invited to travel to Nagorno Karapagh to assess
    the needs of war torn enclave, and develop training for their
    mental-health professionals, to conduct research, and to help the
    Children's Centers. Currently ATOP has undertaken the Sponsor an
    Armenian Child Project: By donating $250, you can help support a child
    for one year, including food, clothing, and education. Please send
    your tax-deductible donations to ATOP and make a difference in a
    child's life. You will receive a photo of the child and will be able
    to communicate with him or her on regular basis. Mail your checks to
    ATOP, subject: Sponsor Armenian Child, 139 Cedar Street, Cliffside
    Park, NJ 07010-1003, or visit our website at www.meaningfulworld.com

    Holistic Interventions in International Psychology:
    A Mind, Body, and Spirit Continuum
    A workshop was held to explain and better educate on Mind-Body-Spirit
    approaches - including medically proven techniques such as meditation,
    yoga, guided imagery, breathing and forgiveness. The activity was
    chaired by Dr. Kalayjian who also presented on the Mind-Body-Spirit
    continuum. Other presenters were Dr. Rivka Bertisch Meir who spoke on
    the power of the mind and Dr. Artemis Pipinelli on the obstacle of
    obesity and how it challenges one's mind, body, and spirit.
    Up to 80% of all illnesses are related to chronic stress, and the
    other 20% depends on our attitude. One in five women are on
    antidepressant, and the men are not too far behind. - can make a
    significant contribution when dealing with illnesses such as cancer,
    heart disease, chronic pain, depression, post-traumatic stress
    disorder, diabetes, asthma, back ache, gastrointestinal problems,
    digestion, elimination and anxiety. This workshop focused on how to
    transform roots of evil and anger into empowerment, assertiveness,
    through the practice of forgiveness
    This workshop provided the scientific basis for the
    Mind-Body-Spirit model, and the most important research in the
    field. The program included an added emphasis on the role of
    forgiveness on the mind-body-spirit health. Dr. Kalayjian - who has
    over twenty years of experience as a psychologists, psychotherapist,
    logotherapist and international traumatologist - brought a
    comprehensive overview of the mind-body-spirit, with hands-on
    experiences from the field, personal stories, and prepared the
    audience on how to integrate the Biopsychosocial and Spiritual model
    into one's everyday life, and coached on how to share this
    transformative way of thinking and behaving in our work, our families,
    and loved ones.
    Dr. Pipinelli talked about obesity and using her own example she
    illustrated how to make a life plan instead of diets. She gave a
    comprehensive historic perspectives on weight gain, and meaning of
    food.
    Dr. Meir talked about fix beliefs and how they affect our attitudes
    as well as our daily practices. Dr. O'Roark talked about the need for
    evidence-based practice as it impacts international psychology.

    Announcement for Internship Availability!!
    Any creative contributions are welcomed and greatly appreciated. A
    preceptor will guide you initially and as needed throughout your
    term. Kindly send your resume and short statement of purpose and
    length and kind of internship.
    Deadlines for internship candidates are as follows:
    July 1 - Summer , September 1 - Fall, November 1 - Winter
    E-mail Contacts: [email protected], [email protected]


    This message was sent by: Association for Trauma Outreach and
    Prevention, 185 E 85 Street, New York, NY 10028
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