U.S. Expert on Child Abuse Prevention Addresses Belarusian Counterparts

Dr. Bonner addresses Belarusian counterparts

On April 21, 2010, Embassy Public Affairs Section hosted a digital video conference (DVC) with Dr. Barbara Bonner, Director, Center on Child Abuse and Neglect at the University of Oklahoma. The DVC was organized in conjunction with The 1st National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention sponsored by the Ponimanie/Understanding NGO in Minsk on April 22-23, 2010. 

During a two-hour long program Dr. Bonner addresses the audience of 17  Belarusian specialists, including child psychiatrists, forensic experts, psychotherapists, clinical psychologists, pediatricians, and counselors.  Her exhaustive presentation on “Treating Traumatized Children: Trauma-Focused Behavioral Therapy” was extremely well received by the Belarusian participants. In her remarks, Dr. Bonner focused on the types of childhood trauma, common diagnoses associated with it, trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy, etc.   The speaker also made a special accent on the role American professional organizations and public initiatives play in raising the standard of care and improving access to services for traumatized children, their families, and communities throughout the USA. The final part of the DVC included a short Q&A session enabling the Belarusian participants to comment on Dr. Bonner’s top quality presentation and to ask for her professional advice on their individual counseling cases.

Following the DVC, the local participants expressed their sincere appreciation of the Embassy’s effort to sponsor such an important professional exchange. The DVC with Dr. Bonner enabled the U.S. Embassy to highlight its support and cooperation with the Belarusian medical and NGO community engaged in preventing child abuse and providing counseling to traumatized children.