"Animus Association" Foundation

The project “Trauma Centre for Children and Families” has been funded by the Swiss-Bulgarian Cooperation Programme and is implemented by Animus Association Foundation. The project launched on September 1^st 2013 and will be going on for a period of three years until August 31^st 2016. The project aims at complementing the current social system model in Bulgaria by introducing an innovative social programme referred to as a “Trauma Centre for Children and Families”. This specialized service center gives child survivors of traumatic experiences and their families the chance to receive psychological counseling and effective rehabilitation. The Trauma Centre for Children and Families offers the following psychotherapeutic programmes and services: 1. CHILD SUPPORT PROGRAMME WHICH BENEFITS:

• children and adolescents aged 0 – 18 who have communication problems or difficulties adapting to the social environment;
• children and adolescents displaying problematic behavior at home or at school;
• children and adolescents displaying psychosomatic symptoms such as: fear, anxiety, bed wetting, panic attacks, aggressive behavior, obsessions, food disorders, insomnia, etc.
• children and adolescents survivors of traumatic events which have disrupted their daily routine (loss of a relative, separation of parents, domestic violence, sexual violence, trafficking in people)
• children who are about to be adopted, placed in foster families or re-integrated in their biological families.

2. PARENTAL SUPPORT PROGRAMME WHICH BENEFITS:

• families and relatives of children who have experienced traumatic events, are at risk of abuse, or have suffered from domestic violence, etc.
• parents who need counseling about problems that they run into while raising their children;
• parents who are in a process of separation or have survived some traumatic event in the family;
• parents who find it difficult to communicate with their children due to the age crises that the child goes through;
• candidate adopters;
• Adopters and foster parents.

3. COMMUNITY SUPPORT PROGRAMME Work in the community is needed in the majority of cases of traumatized children. The programme offers intervention and prevention activities (trainings and seminars) which increase the capacity and sensitivity of the respective professional community to understand and tolerate the dynamics of the issues related to the experiences of traumatized children. So as to ensure that the best interest of the child is observed, child cases require multi-disciplinary meetings which provide methodological support in case management and risk assessment to various stakeholders in the child protection system. The Trauma Centre for Children and Families also includes a correspondence programme that benefits children and parents who need access to e-mail counseling and choose to remain anonymous. The child programs at the Trauma Center for Children and Families build the resilience and capacity of children to integrate traumatic experiences in their lives and to be able to cope with their lives in the future. The adult programs support the parents in increasing their capacity for good parenting and for creating a supportive family environment in which a child can grow up healthy and calm. The programs of the Trauma Center also allow for the important figures in the life of a child outside the family, who are key to the child’s development and social adaptation, to be also supported.   Marina Angelova – Project Coordinator Animus Association Foundation tel/fax: 02/983 52 05; 983 53 05; 983 54 05 email: animus@animusassociation.org