Home
Get Involved
Membership
Volunteer
Support the Network
Mental Health & Mental Illness
    Depression
    Anxiety Disorders
    Trauma
    PTSD
    Children & Adolescents
    Haitian Mental Health

Contact Us

2nd Annual Conference on Haitian Mental Health

Weathering the Storm Like Bamboo:
Rethinking the Concept of "Resilience" in the Haitian Community

May 3-4, 2013
Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology
One Wells Avenue
Newton, Massachusetts

---

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

---

As a nation, Haitians have often been compared to the bamboo tree, which has the distinct characteristic of weathering strong storms and winds seemingly unscathed. Since the disaster of January 12, 2010, the term “resilience” has frequently been associated with Haitians. Indeed, in the aftermath of the earthquake, there were countless media images of Haitians persevering and going about their daily lives and activities appearing unphased by the massive devastation and despair that surrounded them. Those reactions and behaviors were frequently cited to depict Haitians as a resilient nation; a people that seemed to be unaffected by the magnitude of the tragedy and able to “bounce back”—like the proverbial bamboo tree. To date, many questions remain as to the applicability of the westernized construct of resilience to the Haitian experience. In the literature, resilience is defined as “patterns of positive adaptation in the context of significant risk or adversity” (Masten & Powell, 2003).  Yet, as robust as the research on resilience has been, further empirical investigations are needed to fully understand the contextual and cultural aspects of resilience vis-à-vis the Haitian community. For instance, how is resilience defined, conceptualized and measured among Haitians? What attributes of resilience are relevant to Haitians living in the homeland and the Diaspora? Is there a different, and perhaps more culturally appropriate, construct that can better capture the complexities of the lives of Haitians, their coping strengths and reactions to traumatic experiences both as individuals and as a cultural group?

The 2nd Annual Conference on Haitian Mental Health brought together practitioners, researchers, educators, and policymakers to engage in a discourse on resilience among Haitians. Its primary aim was to provide an intellectually stimulating forum for conference attendees to engage in theoretical, research and practice-based inquiries on resilience among Haitians; share knowledge that would lead to a better understanding and conceptualization of resilience and its relevance to the Haitian context; and discuss interventions that could inform clinical practice and respond to the complex mental health needs of the Haitian community.

Click here for the Abstracts and copies of the presentations.

---