Potentially Morally Injurious Experiences (PMIEs) in the Humanitarian Sector: The Role of Moral Expectations.

There is growing evidence that Moral Injury (MI), which is commonly understood to be the result of failing to prevent, witnessing, or participating in an event which transgresses peoples’ moral beliefs, may affect those working in inherently stressful contexts, such as the humanitarian field. Humanitarian work frequently involves challenges of an ethically or morally distressing nature. Research which aimed to determine whether unpaid humanitarian aid workers supporting displaced people in Calais and Dunkirk, Northern France, were exposed to Potentially Morally Injurious Experiences (PMIEs), is presented. Thematic Analysis (TA) was used to examine the narratives of 7 participants who discussed experiences that transgressed their moral beliefs while volunteering, as well as the emotional effects of those experiences. The data suggested that the participants may have been exposed to PMIEs. This finding has important implications for the mental health and psychosocial support needs of both paid and unpaid humanitarian aid workers, and could inform interventions by international and national Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) working in similar, contexts. The data was re-examined with a focus on feelings of guilt and shame and questions of identity and morality, sometimes called existential crises, which are understood to adversely affect mental health wellbeing

Democratic Representation and Civil Society. Redefinitions in the search of politics

El objetivo del artículo es reflexionar sobre una re-significación de la representación democrática que incorpore las relaciones con la sociedad civil (SC) con miras a una refundación de lo político, haciendo manifiestos los mecanismos organizadores de la vida social. Se verá cómo los cambios en la política democrática, trastocan el sentido de lo político generando un malestar ciudadano con la democracia electoral-representativa y luego algunos desarrollos teóricos contemporáneos que abordan la representación en relación con la SC. Se concluye proponiendo incorporar las prácticas y relaciones entre las instituciones, los actores políticos y los movimientos sociales en las arenas formales e informales, incluyendo la dimensión dinámica y creativa de la representaciónThe aim of this article is to reflect on the redefinitions of democratic representation that’s incorporates the relationships with the Civil Society (CS) in the search of the re-foundation of politics, making manifest the organizers mechanisms of social life. It will be seen how the sense of political is disrupted by changes in democratic politics, generating a citizenship discomfort with electoral-representative democracy, and some contemporary theoretical developments that approaches the representation in relation with CS. The conclusion proposes to incorporate practices and relationships within institutions, political actors and social movements that develop in formal and informal arenas, including the dynamic and creative dimension of representationFil: Berdondini, Mariana. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Politicas y Relaciones Internacionales. Instituto de Investigaciones; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Counselling training in Afghanistan: the long term development of the INSPIRE project

Between 2010 and 2014, the British Council funded a project under a scheme called INSPIRE, which involved training a group of 20 Afghan practitioners in counselling skills. The participants were from Kabul and Herat and the University of Herat were partners in the project. The ethos of the programme was based on co-constructing a model of transcultural training that could be applicable within the Afghan context (Berdondini et al., 2014). As an outcome, in 2016 the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education approved the launch of a Counselling Department and a Student Counselling Service within the University of Herat. This article aims to present and analyse the long term development of INSPIRE in Afghanistan from the perspective of some participants. Reflections on future implementation of this approach and training programs are also included

Existential Psychotherapies: Similarities and Differences Among the Main Branches

Authors agree that a range of different existential therapies exist. However, not much has been written about what is characteristic and distinctive of each existential therapy, and the few claims that have been made are mainly hypothetical. Practitioners from the four main branches of existential therapy were asked about the authors and texts that have most influenced their practice and the practices they considered most characteristic of existential therapy. From all over the world, 29 daseinsanalysts, 82 existential-humanistic, 573 existential-phenomenological, and 303 logotherapy and/or existential analysis practitioners participated in this study. Data show that the scope of influence of an author is pretty much limited to the branch he or she is related to and only a few authors, in particular Frankl and Yalom, influence practitioners from all four branches. Five categories of practice are shared among the main existential branches as the most characteristics of existential therapy, with phenomenological practices being the most shared category: But the frequency of each of these categories of practice differs significantly depending on respondents’ training or affiliated branch. Data corroborate the idea of different existential therapies, with logotherapy and/or existential analysis being the most markedly different branch of them all