Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Spring 2013 | Page 18

Where in the World Is HDI?
HDI currently has international projects in Haiti, Japan, Uzbekistan,
Africa, India, Canada, and the Philippines. Projects in the U.S.
are underway in Illinois, Alabama, Mississippi, and on the East Coast
in response to Superstorm Sandy.

In Haiti

HDI recently co-led two workshops in Haiti, partnering with the
Restavek Freedom Foundation, le Centre de Spiritualité et de Santé
Mentale (CESSA), and Regent University’s Child Trauma Institute.
“In both cases, we found people hungry for practical skills,” says
Dr. Boan. “Our emphasis is on building the local person’s capacity.”
The Restavek Freedom Foundation estimates that 1 in 15
children in Haiti lives in slavery. Restavek is the practice of poor,
rural families giving their children to relatives or acquaintances
in cities in hope of greater opportunities. These children often wind
up providing free labor and can become the victims of abuse.
James Kent Psy.D. ’16 followed Dr. Aten to Wheaton from
the University of Southern Mississippi and became a research
assistant with HDI. He traveled to Haiti with Drs. Boan and Aten
and visited a transition house that takes sexually abused girls out
of Restavek, providing for them until they are old enough to live
and work on their own. Especially heartbreaking for James was
the realization that between Restavek, crushing poverty, and the
earthquake, trauma is the norm for many people in Haiti.
Last fall, Christian psychologists in Haiti ran a clinical trial
intervention with traumatized children, using a culturally
contextualized care program co-developed by HDI and Regent
University’s Child Trauma Institute. Results from this trial showed
that the children demonstrated a decrease in post-traumatic
stress disorder symptoms and spiritual struggles and an increase
in positive spiritual practices following the intervention. In
collaboration with Christian universities in Haiti, the HDI team
hopes to integrate this training for trauma care into courses so
that it becomes a sustainable intervention.
For James Kent, traveling to Haiti and working with HDI has
“blown the doors off what I thought was possible with a doctoral
degree in psychology.”

“Anytime someone from the church visits me,
it removes some of the rubble from my heart.”
—Japanese tsunami survivor
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A child navigates the rubble in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

In Japan

Gary Fairchild, director of international relations and partnerships
at World Relief, traveled to Japan six months after the earthquake
disaster to discuss needs with the chairman of the Japanese
Evangelical Association (JEA).
“We’re depressed,” was the response he received.
Gary says, “The Japanese are very skilled and equipped at
cleaning up and responding to emergencies, but it’s the disasters
of the heart, the inner trauma, they haven’t dealt with.”
And so, through a grant from World Relief, HDI has been working
with JEA to equip churches in Japan to address long-term mental
health issues and to improve communication between churches via
a social networking site built by Wheaton professors and students.
“There are a number of different forms and apps being developed
in consultation with Dr. John Hayward, who teaches our mobile
computing course,” explains Dr. Paul Isihara, professor of
mathematics at Wheaton and an HDI Fellow. Information sent in
by pastors and NGOs is transferred to a map so smartphone and
internet users can easily pinpoint areas of need as well as available
resources. “This system being developed for Japan might be
adopted in other places,” Dr. Isihara adds.
HDI also created tip sheets using information gathered by
Projects Coordinator Joseph Kimmel M.A. ’12, who traveled to
Japan in June 2012 to interview Japanese church leaders.
These online sheets deal with everything from self-care, to caring
for staff members, to steps for developing partnerships with
other churches.
Drs. Aten and Boan then traveled to Japan in November to train
35 JEA pastors on emotional and spiritual disaster care and on how
to use the tools and technology the College is still developing. With
input from the JEA pastors, the team continues to refine their work.
For students like Joseph, these international opportunities can
have lasting benefits. “It laid the groundwork for the future,” he
says of his trip to Japan, noting that he is in the process of applying
to graduate programs in comparative religion.