Psychological trauma and social healing in Croatia

A school-based pilot project is described which was designed to promote trauma healing, non-violent conflict resolution, peaceful living, human rights, and reduction of ethnic bias in Croatian children affected by war. A manual was written to guide teachers, who presented the curriculum over a four-month period. The subjects were 250 Fourth and Fifth grade children, divided into an intervention and two control groups. Pre- and post-testing revealed a small but significant reduction in ethnic bias and a reduction in post-traumatic stress symptoms in the intervention group. Follow-up testing showed that these benefits continued. There was a high level of acceptance of the programme by participants. The programme was extended in the subsequent year to 1200 students.