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This chapter focuses on gender as an analytical identity category in the context of a changing, yet still deeply unequal, Northern Ireland. Unlike ethno-national identity, and to a lesser extent class, many women expressed a sense of their gender difference as something that was always there, omnipresent from their earliest childhood memories, that the sense of difference was innate. Several women talked at length about gender inequality in Northern Ireland as an observable social reality. A more promising analysis of gender inequality was offered by a much smaller number of women who recognised not only the extent to which such inequality impinges on their lives but also the potential to challenge and change it. Champions of equality were excited by the signing of the Good Friday Agreement on 10 April 1998 due to the specific inclusions with regard to human rights and equal opportunities.
This chapter examines the challenges facing women who want to participate in politics in Northern Ireland and touches upon the relationship between women inside and outside politics. It draws upon survey research to show changes in public attitudes and discusses outreach programmes that support women who wish to become involved. The chapter traces the post-Good Friday Agreement (GFA) journey for women through the political institutions and demonstrates that while some progress has been made, more is required. The Northern Ireland Local Government Association, supported by Arlene Foster MLA (then Environment Minister), introduced an annual networking dinner in Parliament Buildings for women politicians. The election to the first Northern Ireland Assembly followed within months of the GFA. In assessing the gender deficit, female MLAs in the 1998 Assembly cited male culture and attitudes as obstacles to their participation.
This chapter outlines four major needs-assessments undertaken to better understand the impact of the bombing and the way in which the findings helped in the development of services for psychological and mental health needs. It includes Omagh needs-assessments, adult needs-assessment, children's and adolescents' needs-assessments, and health and social care services staff needs-assessment. In the history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland there had not been an incident with a combination of so many deaths, so many injuries and so many exposed to highly traumatic experiences. The chapter describes the Sperrin Lakeland Trust under the leadership of its occupational health consultant in collaboration with the University of Northumbria. The adult study was undertaken by the Trust with the support of Professor David Clark and his colleagues, based then at Oxford University.
Conflict poses considerable challenges for services that support communities, and in particular those affected by violence. This book describes the work undertaken in Omagh against the background of the most recent period of violent conflict in Ireland, and specifically it draws upon the work following the Omagh bombing. The bombing came just four months after the Northern Ireland peace agreement, known formally as the Belfast Agreement of 1998, and more informally as the Good Friday Agreement. The book describes the impact of the bomb and the early responses. Local trade unions, employers and the business community played key roles at times, particularly in underlining the need for solidarity and in identifying themselves with the desire for peace. The book looks at the outcome of needs-assessments undertaken following the Omagh bombing. The efforts to understand the mental health and related impact of the violence associated with the Troubles in Northern Ireland over the period 1969 to 2015 are focused in detail. The later efforts to build services for the benefit of the wider population are described, drawing upon the lessons gained in responding to the Omagh bombing. The developments in therapy, in training and education, and in research and advocacy are described with reference to the work of the Northern Ireland Centre for Trauma and Transformation (NICTT). The book draws together key conclusions about the approaches that could be taken to address mental health and well-being as an essential component of a peace-building project.
This chapter describes the establishment of a trauma-focused approach to the needs of those seeking help with emotional, psychological and mental health problems linked to traumatic experiences of the civil conflict in Northern Ireland. It outlines the development of a therapy service based upon trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). The chapter describes and discusses key issues relating to the origins, principles, aims and challenges of this development. The new Centre's programmes were to deliver trauma therapies, undertake research, train practitioners in trauma-related skills, and support other communities affected by war and conflict. The Centre continually documented its therapy protocols, which had been developed initially in the original Omagh Community Trauma and Recovery Team. In the early years, the therapy programme was managed by the Centre's therapy team leader who coordinated the allocation of the referrals.
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book describes the outcome of needs-assessments undertaken following the Omagh bombing. It explains that the mental health and wider needs arising from loss and trauma must be incorporated as early as possible into the peace-making and peace-building project. The book looks in some detail at the efforts to understand the mental health and related impact of the violence associated with the Troubles in Northern Ireland over the period 1969 to 2015. It considers the Northern Ireland Centre for Trauma and Transformation (NICTT) and also describes developments in therapy, in training and education, and in research and advocacy. The book draws key conclusions about the approaches that could be taken to address mental health and well-being as an essential component of a peace-building project.
This chapter provides an overview of the unfolding understanding of the psychological impact of the violence, with reference to key studies, research reviews and other key reports published between 1969 and 1999. One of the earliest studies to investigate the mental health impact of communal violence in Northern Ireland was reported upon shortly after the large-scale violence began. The study focused on three family doctor practices in west Belfast, one of the areas most affected by the early violence. The parties to the Belfast Agreement looked forward to the results of the work of the Northern Ireland Victims' Commission. In 1999, Lost Lives, a chronicle of the deaths associated with the Troubles in Northern Ireland, was published. The form and approach of studies that have investigated the mental health impact of the Troubles varies considerably.
This chapter charts a pathway from the early days of the Troubles and the efforts to understand the mental health impact of the violence. D. O'Reilly and Des Browne reported upon the Northern Ireland Health and Social Wellbeing Survey of 1997 focusing on health service use. In 2002, P. McConnell reported upon their epidemiological study of mental health disorders and needs for treatment of the general population in the city of Derry/Londonderry. Between 2008 and 2012 a partnership of the Northern Ireland Centre for Trauma and Transformation and the Psychology Research Institute at Ulster University published a series of studies that examined the mental and associated physical health impact of the Troubles. The Commission for Victims and Survivors for Northern Ireland (CVSNI) was established in 2008, following the passing of legislation by the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2006.
This chapter describes the origins of the Northern Ireland Centre for Trauma and Transformation (NICTT). It briefly outlines the philosophical and theoretical foundations of the Centre and the evidence base upon which its mission and work was developed. The chapter also describes the role of a not-for-profit agency working in conventional public sector funding and administrative structures in the context of the Troubles. The development of ideas about recognising the mental health impact of the Troubles, and responding effectively, was part of a wider debate about addressing the adverse impact of the years of violence on individuals, families and communities. The original Omagh Community Trauma and Recovery Team had involved practitioners from a wide range of roles and disciplines and was directly linked into the wider range of services provided by the Sperrin Lakeland Trust.
This chapter describes some of the key responses by the Omagh community and its agencies to the crisis of the bombing and its anticipated long-term implications. Within minutes of the bombing, the local hospital in Omagh, The Tyrone County Hospital, which was located less than a kilometre away from the scene, began to receive casualties. To convey where the bombing registered as a community tragedy, reference was made to a framework developed some years earlier to reflect upon the impact of the Enniskillen bombing of 1987. As a result of the highly charged political context of the tragedy, additional expectations became apparent, with politicians and community leaders being concerned that services should be provided for those affected by the bombing. It was clear that the bombing posed a serious mental health risk for those who had been involved in the care, treatment and support of casualties and the bereaved.