Women and children are most at risk in this insecure world. In the last 10 years 85% of the victims of conflict have been women and children. The outcome of this Workshop is to ensure that women are informed and able to follow a simple strategy of activities, complementing the work of professionals – or, where this is not available, alone. This could make an important impact on the way in which the young recover from the consequences of terrorist incidents, civil conflict, war, displacement and so on

No longer are threats to security a matter for the security services, the armed forces, police and government agencies alone – a holistic view is now essential. From grass roots to policy level all of us must be involved, able to make informed decisions and to undertake appropriate actions. The international community is currently examining how to develop and implement an integrated policy framework for the prevention of conflict. The work of this Workshop aimed to contribute substantially towards this goal.

 Studied case: the workshop sought to develop a strategy of activities for mothers, fathers and teachers to use to help children overcome the trauma caused by armed conflict or terrorist incident.  It established integrated strategies of practical activities in which non-professionals can complement the work of mental health professionals to deal with the consequences of the new security threats in children and adolescents.The work focussed on the well-being and the development of the well-balanced, responsible social attitudes needed to ensure the stability and social development of their country.  MMM Serbia prepared the workshop and the participating specialists from 19 countries worked together .  

The Workshop aimed to:

• review the different factors, particularly the new threats, which induce trauma in children and adolescents


• identify  and analyse the mental health indicators of trauma - including emotional, relationship, behavioural, somatic and cognitive components - to see if there are recognisable patterns in all traumatised children.
• make a comparative study of developmentally-grounded and culturally-sensitive mental health approaches towards the treatment of trauma in children and adolescents
• identify scientifically grounded specific strategies to deal with the responses to trauma shown by 12-15 year old Serbian children, identifying the training required by non-professionals working alongside professionals to implement effective mitigating measures
• recognising developmental considerations and cultural sensitivities, develop a general integrated strategy for preventing, mitigating and dealing with trauma in children at risk from threats to security.

In addressing these issues this Workshop aimed to define the means of raising awareness about and dealing with trauma in children and adolescents, establish the training needed to prevent or mitigate trauma, and inform the public, professionals and policy-makers about the consequences to individuals and to societies of the new threats to security.

A book based on the deliberations was published in 2005 in the NATO Security through Science Series: Human and Societal Dynamics: “Developing Strategies to Deal with Trauma in Children – A means of ensuring conflict prevention, security and social stability”. MMMSerbia has started to implement the strategy developed at the meeting.