Student and Faculty Member Lead Trauma Training

Delivered to pastors and teachers on the border of Thailand and Myanmar

Julia O’Carey (right), Master of Social Work student, helped develop and lead the trauma awareness training. (Photo by Julia O’Carey)

Andrews University’s International Center for Trauma Education & Care, which is run by the University’s School of Social Work, extends its trauma training and education services to professionals, churches, communities and families across the globe. Most recently, an Andrews professor and student delivered an in-person training, titled Project RENEW, to 77 Adventist pastors and teachers on the border of Thailand and Myanmar from March 15–18.

Julia O’Carey, Master of Social Work student, was a part of the team who provided the trauma awareness training. O’Carey, who graduated from Andrews in 1997 and 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and master’s degree in education, respectively, started her social work career after deciding to pivot toward focusing on clinical counseling for children and adolescents. Through personal experience living in Thailand for nearly 10 years, as well as her work with ASAP Ministries in Berrien Springs, O’Carey recognized that many of the teachers and pastors in the area could benefit from the center’s programs.

“I grew up in Thailand and my parents worked in refugee camps,” she explains. “So I observed a lot of trauma and when I came back to the U.S. in high school, my heart was still with the people there.”

O’Carey, with help from Ingrid Slikkers, executive director of the International Center for Trauma Education & Care, and Charity Garcia, director of K–12 initiatives for the center and associate professor of curriculum and instruction in the School of Education, was able to launch a pilot program centered on bringing culturally sensitive care to those living near the Thailand-Myanmar border. To prepare for the training, O’Carey designed and developed workbooks and other materials before field testing them in Thailand during December 2025.

“I was able to really encourage one of the teachers and spend some quality time with her,” O’Carey shares of her field-testing experience. “I wish I could have done much more because there’s so much need there.”

Many in the region have been affected by the Myanmar civil war that has been ongoing since 1948, occasionally spilling over into Thailand and other nations. This led to participants attending the training from a variety of countries, including Myanmar, some having to travel several days to the event location.

“The basic approach was to help them understand what the impact of trauma is on their brains and their bodies, and what can be done about it,” says Garcia, who accompanied O’Carey in Thailand. “We did that by doing an activity called the ‘Brain Architecture’ game with them, where they literally used pipe cleaners and straws to build a brain and see the impact of positive, toxic and tolerable stress on brain development.”

They also led attendees through activities focused on nature and spirituality that helped develop and inform both “trauma awareness and trauma responsiveness,” as Garcia puts it. The Stevens Foundation contributed the majority of the funds needed for the services, which included materials for the entire program as well as Week of Prayer resources for participants to use moving forward.

The curriculum included what O’Carey described as “culturally appropriate” and Bible-based materials for understanding trauma, its impacts specific to cultural context, and responses. The instructors discussed the types of traumas participants faced as they performed their ministries in the church and in the classroom. Special prayer sessions were also integral to the program.

The International Center for Trauma Education & Care team hopes this pilot program can be developed further and provide even more robust training and care for those in other war-torn countries and developing nations.

“It was, honestly, one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, because to have this dream and then see how God opened the doors and how supportive the International Center for Trauma Education & Care was to do this, was a mighty blessing,” says O’Carey. “I really hope to stay involved with the center. I’d be happy to help facilitate more trainings and adapt this curriculum or empower other interns to do it.”