ACC’s Trauma Recovery Center in Sterling Heights treats survivors of torture. PHOTO: TAAN/ NATASHA DADO

MICHIGAN — Many of the displaced refugees who turn to the Arab American and Chaldean Council’s behavioral health division for treatment are victims of war and survivors of torture. 

“It is the story of the Middle East, you know, wars, explosions, kidnappings and killings. This is also the story of a lot of the patients we treat right here,” said Dr. Zafer Obeid.  

He works at ACC’s Primary Care Clinics in Detroit. The Warrendale area office in Detroit houses ACC’s Primary Care Clinic, and one of its Detroit Behavioral Health Programs that is a part of the group’s behavioral health division, which includes five outpatient clinics in Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties.  

The division is a comprehensive community-based outpatient program, committed to the prevention and treatment of psychological and social problems in the Arab, Chaldean and all other communities. 

ACC has served refugees in southeast Michigan for over three decades, but in recent years its efforts have increased, due to the large influx of refugees resettling in the region. 

According to a report, since the start of the 2003 U.S. led invasion of Iraq, roughly 30,000 Iraqi refugees resettled in metro-Detroit. 

ACC is making life easier for many of these refugees by offering crucial free and affordable services to improve the quality of life. 

“ACC is a terrific and great resource for the refugees, and thank God for its presence. Its services are expanding, and they are bringing a lot of free services to the refugees. Teaching them English, and showing them how to look for a job, and showing them how to take care of their health. Mental health services are provided for free. Some of the medical needs are provided for free. They would have a lot more suffering than what they have now. It makes their life a lot easier,” said Dr. David Al Najjar, a physician based in Sterling Heights. 

He helps provide health screenings in Macomb to the newly arrived refugees who participate in ACC’s Refugee Health Assessment Program that provides services in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties, and he has sent many of them to the group’s Trauma Recovery Center in Macomb County.

 

“We have had to send them there regularly, because many still experience the aftermath of traumatic events, and suffering, so they need help at least for a period of time,” he said. 

The Trauma Recovery Center is a joint program of Wayne State University and the ACC. It has helped over 300 families obtain community services and treatment for trauma. 

Its goal is to help torture survivors and their families recover from physical and emotional trauma. 

“It is a center that deals with these kinds of events that happen to the refugees, in a very efficient and helpful way. I believe it was a great idea to establish this resource,” said Al Najjar. 

The center has psychiatrists, psychologists and community case managers who speak Arabic and English. It also provides assistance with obtaining and maintaining benefits from public programs.  

Obeid says psychological trauma is very common among refugees who are victims of war. Al Najjar says many of the refugees suffer from trauma because of the conditions at refugee camps, and the experiences they endure  living in them. 

“A majority of their problems are psychological because of getting moved around.  And by the time they come here, they have a lot of  trauma,” Obeid said. 

A vast majority of the refugees ACC treats are Iraqis who initially settled in other countries such as Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria before coming to the United States. 

Al Najjar says some of the refugees have had their loved ones killed in front of them, and others  witnessed people dismembered in the streets.  “The victim might not be directly related to them, but it happened right in front of their eyes,” he said. 

Some refugees  have even shared stories about receiving threatening letters asking them to leave their countries or risk getting killed. 

One of Obeid’s patients suffered from trauma after her husband was killed during a car bombing in Iraq. “She had kids, and he dies in the car bombing,” he said. 

 

Nadia Habhab, a clinical therapist at the Trauma Recovery Center says that in addition to struggling with adapting to life in a new country, many refugees have to cope with recovering from trauma at the same time.  Habhab says a great deal of the trauma is caused by displacement, discrimination and religious persecution. 

“They were not able to practice their religion freely,” she said.  Obeid says a 15-year-old Iraqi girl who was one of his patients witnessed killing in the streets of Syria after moving there following the Iraq war. 

“She saw people were killed by militants, so she had depression and post traumatic stress disorder, and she still suffers because of that,” he said.  “The Iraqi refugees, they have depression due to these things, killing in the street, they have really sad stories.”  

Obeid says one Iraqi family who fled Iraq in the nineties had two sons who were jailed and killed by the former regime, and one of their daughters also suffered from depression and post traumatic stress disorder as a result. 

The family  received threatening letters warning them to leave the country as well.  

ACC believes survivors of torture are strong and resilient individuals who can recover from the traumas that they have endured, and many of its programs help rebuild their lives. 

“They’re happy they left the country, they don’t live in fear anymore, but it is also a hardship for them because they are moving to a new country,”  Obeid said. 

Many refugees were independent and making a good living in their homelands before being forced to flee, and don’t like the idea of having to depend on government assistance for a period of time when they first come here. 

A lot of the refugees were working professionals in fields like medicine and law, but they experience difficulty pursuing the same career paths here.  Others also are very well educated, and sometimes have trouble proving they earned a college degree. 

“I believe a majority of them will be a great resource to society because again they have talent, they have degrees and they are very capable of contributing to society,”  Obeid said. 

Most refugees can overcome trauma. “My advice is to turn the page, start a new life. Forget about everything that happened back there. Iraq is still your country, you still have family there, but you have to start a new life. You have to start from the beginning,” he said.   

In terms of how long it can take a refugee to recover from trauma, ACC staff say it depends on how severe the trauma is, and how easily they can adapt to change. 

“If you are going to adjust to a new situation, new country, a new environment, it is going to take you some time, all of us went through this when we came from our mother countries,” Obeid said.  He has seen some patients take a year or two to adjust, while it can take others longer. He says young refugees tend to get over trauma quicker, because they are occupied with school and work, while he often witnesses older adults who are not as busy dwelling on the past. 

“Within the first year you’re still trying to see people adjust, but I would definitely say in two or three years things get better,” Habhab said. 

There are a lot of misconceptions surrounding refugees who resettle in the region. Many have the perception that they won’t be able to contribute to society and will have to rely on government support. Refugees have contributed to the revitalization of the region by opening small businesses and working as professionals in various fields. 

“The refugees are here because they have a second chance.  If we don’t understand them, that would be unfair, because we went through the same process. The reason why we are here unfortunately is because our home country environment was not good enough for us to stay safely there, so this great country of the United States, and some of the European countries are providing human aid to these people who are looking for a second chance. So they are here to start their life again, and a lot of them have talents. They have degrees. They have education, and they want to use it here, and I am sure this country will benefit from it for sure,”  Al Najjar said. 

Habhab says some of the most difficult cases involve families with children. 

“I think anytime there are children involved it is really hard, and anytime you have little kids, and the children have witnessed the violence, they lost a parent, mother or father…You have quite a bit of those coming in here, so it is a struggle. A lot of widows are trying to support their children by themselves,” she said, adding that children also experience more difficulty vocalizing their needs.  

Most refugees are more comfortable turning to ACC for services as opposed to other human service agencies in the region because of its bilingual staff.  

“I know that if they went to a lot of other agencies there would be language barriers and cultural barriers, but when you have a staff that is of the same culture and speaks the same language, it helps make the environment more welcoming,” Habhab said. 

Many refugees may find it shameful to seek services for issues pertaining to mental health, but they’re not alone. 

“There are services available. We try the best we can to make it a very welcoming environment… We are available, and want to help,” she said. 

ACC is one of the largest human service organizations in the state with more than 40 outreach offices, and its behavioral health division and other programs are not limited to refugees. To learn more about its services visit www.myacc.org.