Site visit in the North

Dates: 24/25/26 February

Route

Colombo – Killinochchi- Jaffna ( 2 night stays) – Mullaitivu – Mankulam – Colombo

This unique tour will enable participants to observe and experience the deep rooted traumas and associated mental health impact of decades of The War, The Tsunami and The Economic and Social challenges of an extremely vulnerable region in Sri Lanka. The lack of resources both financial and human – required cost effective and locally developed innovative responses and solutions.

Participants will travel by road, allowing for understanding of impact on local communities of the devastation and the observation of the slow recover. Meetings will be arranged with mental health professionals and community based mental health workers and counsellors to understand the challenges they faced and how responses were developed. 

FGIP, through its decades of involvement in Sri Lanka has provided important support to the Mental Health Care Practice in Sri Lanka, and in particular to the Northern Province, through Policy and Training Materials Development and Capacity Building Training Programmes.

Participants will visit  an integrated mental health care unit in the Killinochchi General Hospital which provides free treatment and care to clients. In Jaffna, the tour will take participants to visit the private/public partnership transitional care home – Kudil and the inclusive living, Home Again houses. The return journey will take participants to visit the  Wellness and Rehabilitation Unit  in the new Mankullam Base Hospital, with its State of the Art technology and highly trained network of trauma caregivers.

The Tour will also take participants to the historic archeological site of the Dutch Fort of Jaffna and the revered spiritual Nallur Hindu Temple.