Social workers have a demanding and challenging job at the best of times. At the worst of times, they deal with clients who are experiencing trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Kamloops social worker Dr. Wendy Nordick recently published a book about the years she spent in Sri Lanka when the country faced the world’s highest suicide rate — the fallout of decades of civil war.
Nordick and TRU faculty member Dr. Bala Nikku, who has worked in India and Nepal, explore the unique challenges of international social work at a presentation on Friday, Nov. 17.
Nordick’s book, Indelible: A social worker in the wake of civil war, chronicles her experiences in the midst of Sri Lanka’s suicide crisis. Nordick had 25 years’ social work experience when she and her retired-judge husband Bill Blair signed on with Canadian University Services Overseas (CUSO) for two years in Sri Lanka. Much of Nordick’s time was spent working with hospital workers and other medical teams dealing with people who were traumatized from what they experienced during the country’s decades of civil war.
This is an insightful resource for practitioners working with trauma and PTSD.
Please note: some sections touch on graphic content such as torture.
When: Friday, Nov. 17, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (refreshments included)
Where: Open Learning building, room 127
Sponsored by TRU School of Social Work and Human Service and the Faculty of Education and Social Work.
