always.
the always project
​created for the (now over) half of the world's wandering unaccompanied refugee population who are children - referred to as the world's 'traveling children' by the UN, the forcibly uprooted children and youth of war/armed conflict increasingly found at high risk, geopolitically unstable border regions of the world - by far the world's most dangerous areas for unaccompanied minors (most of whom died during their attempts to escape within their countries as they fled toward the borders.) The minority of children  who remain alive are naively, vaguely, idealistically hoping for rescue of some kind once they reach the border.
At borders, they arrive exhausted, disoriented, dehydrated, ill, injured,
separated from relatives and friends, without clothing, food, supplies; money.
And there, they are unwittingly susceptible to every possible kind of danger, trafficking, abduction, slavery, and vile exploitation imaginable, including recruitment by a variety of terrorist organizations to be child soldiers.
Please assist us to engage and assist them right where they are.
​

​
​"Part of being mindful of all beings is to witness their suffering.
They can see in our eyes if we are there with them. They can see in our eyes that we give them a gift."
Witnessing the Suffering of the World. Tenshin Reb Anderson, Buddhist teacher, Green Gulch Farm, California, 3/11/2012​

​always be listening global initiative
the always project
an independent tax exempt non-profit in the US 501(c)(3) formally established with hope & lovingkindness, 3.7.2015

​​a rapidly increasing number of children are being forced, by armed conflict and war, to flee their homes alone.
"89 per cent of the world's refugees are forcibly uprooted, 'traveling children and youth' wandering alone- - without a parent or guardian."
(96,000 in 2015 alone, according to Save the Children)
we collaborate with others, promote safety, shelter, and healing ​for these children, the world's most endangered.
nearly 200,000 unaccompanied minors have applied for asylum in Europe since 2008.
over 28 million of nearly 50 million uprooted children worldwide forcibly displaced by war, armed conflict & violence
wander within and across the world's most dangerous, geopolitically unstable border regions.​

"Hope" is the thing with feathers -That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops at all -
And sweetest - in the gale - is heard - And sore must be the storm -That could abash the little Bird - That kept so many warm.
Emily Dickinson, The Poems of Emily Dickinson, Ed. R. W. Franklin. (Harvard Univ. Press, 1999.)c

Marilee Ruebsamen, Ph.D., Founding Exec. Dir., ABL Global Initiative
​global health, mental health | no health without mental health | mental health IS health!​
Founding Director, Abbey Psychological Services, Saratoga & Monterey, CA
precision treatment for child/adolescent/family/adult: severe stress & traumatic loss, promoting coping, resilience, & hope
Assoc. Prof Psychology P/T Fac., PGSP, PA, CA; John F. Kennedy instigation of first Psychology Doctoral Program; Notre Dame deNamur, Belmont, CA
Partners
*Human Health Aid Burundi, (Burundi/Tanzania/Goma/DRC/Rwanda)
*NEAR Humanitarian Network, Nyamiye Hermenigelde, M.S., Burundi.
*SUTCO Support the Children Uganda/South Sudan, Tom Ogwal, M.S.
*ZELYN PROJECT: Kibera School, Kenya Elisha Ooga, Director and Principal.
*INSTITUTE OF NEUROSCIENCE OF CASTILLO Y LEON - NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMEMT:
Intern'l Journal of Psychology & Neuroscience, (UPN)- ISSN 2183-5829. 017. Internat'l Journal of Cell & Systems
Devel. Biology (IJCSJB). 2017. (Portugal). Institute of Neuroscience of Castillo y Leon-Neuropsychological Assessment,
Humberto Rodrigues, Ed.-in-Chief, Ph.D. Medicine College of Salamanca, MsC, MA.
*IMC: INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS (Palestinian Territory). Psychosocial Sup., UN Work & Relief Agency (UNRWA).
Dr. Ibrahim Abunada, Ph.D., Specialist. Palestinian Territories.Training courses/teachers, counselors. MHPSS
Emerg./Crisis situations in ongoing conflict between Palestinian Terr. & Israel.
Emergency intervention programs for ongoing victims of traumatic events, Gaza;
Affiliates
​* International Center for Mental Health & Human Rights, ICMHHR: Portable Calm Program for Children & Youth
CBTRT Certification (Contemplative-Based Trauma & Resiliency Training), Gaea Logan, LCSW (Austin, Texas)
*Lifeline Nehemiah Project Sierra Leone​, PJ Mandewa-Cole, (Sierra Leone) Queen's Young Leaders
*Vishal H. Joseph, Georgetown, Guyana
Supporting
*Art Refuge UK; Care4Calais *The Hummingbird Project (Calais)
*Refugee Aid & Solidarity(Calais) *Safe Passage UK(Calais)
The Hummingbird Project
*UN Committee Against Children in Armed Conflict (global)
Member (select)
*PHAP Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance & Protection, Geneva (global)
*Healthright International (global) * PHR Physicians for Human Rights (global)
*WAIMH World Association of Infant Mental Health, WAIMH (global)
*CST Center for Survivors of Torture SJ, CA, Founding Member since inception, Community Clinician
Honorary Advisor
*NCP Neuropsychology Center, Pakistan *FACTR Families and Communities Together, SJ, USC

Dr. Jess Ghannam, Ph.D., Psychologist, Instructor, Senior Consulting Expert
​always be listening global initiative
global health, mental health | no health without mental health | mental health IS health!​​
***
Clinical Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry, Global Health Sciences, University of CA at SF, SF, CA; Ethnic Studies, SFSU
​direct war experience, research  & intervention with the children of Gaza for twenty years
assessment of direct war experience, coping, trauma symptoms, need-based intervention/support
war-affected Palestinian children and youth, west bank, gaza - continual global engagement.
​Dr. Ghannam's work is extended now around the world.
​our mission
​"​. . . what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing:
it also depends on what sort of person you are."
C. S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew​
​
building on the work of Dr. Ghannam, our aim is to provide indigenous country workers with training, consult, linkage, psychosocial support, mentoring, grant acquisition, co-authorship of grants & papers, valid, need- & evidence-based training in various cooperative formations of trauma-and compassion- informed prevention, assessment & treatment projects, after-care and compassionate, training in self-care for workers and professional aid workers exposed to the considerable stressors of working with war/armed conflict affected children and youth. 

our urgent appeal:

from our headquarters in the relative freedom and natural beauty of northern CA, we continue to strongly advocate for the immediate, humane treatment of forcibly migrating youth in every country of the world. we visibly support and actively promote the work of all politicians, volunteers, ​professionals & humanitarian organizations fostering communication and working collaboratively to assist, sustain and protect unaccompanied, forcibly displaced children and young people against aggressive, violent agents of governments, such as the activities - a truly inexplicable example of that is the ongoing battering and persecution of children and youth within and without shelters in Calais, France. These are youth trapped at "the end of the line.

---

description: brief project overview
initially, indigenous college students, aid and field workers are trained to "listen" to children ages 3 - 18 in a unique manner,
using a validated conversational protocol (developed by Dr. Jess Ghannan in Gaza),
accurately transcribing their direct, experiences of war/armed conflict wherever they find the children --
usually at geopolitically unstable border regions --
sometimes, in camps, groups, makeshift shelters, clinics, and schools.
​Profiles derived from these need-based assessments yield results suggestive of the
type of intervention most likely to uniquely support each child's stabilization and recovery.

​​​implementation: treatment interventions
we are supporting, training the trainers- front line indigenous aid/development workers
honoring religio-cultural contexts of all aspects of intervention is imperative.
we follow the lead of those already working, assist by offering further knowledge, by assisting in locating and co-writing grants,
by supporting cooperative alliances, advising where we can be helpful and are asked for assistance; learning, giving input as appropriate
​
​child participants are asked, three questions, individually and confidentially:
1. "what did you experience (for example, when the soldiers came)?"
2. "how did you cope?"
3. "what are you experiencing now?" (what trauma symptoms remain?)
​we are listening closely for precise details of what they remember of their unique experiences of war,
​how they managed and coped, and the severity of any remaining post traumatic symptoms.
results obtained inform children's assignment to individual treatment or group treatments
where they are matched with others who have had similar experiences, coped similarly, who are likely
​currently experiencing similar psychosocial (or more serious psychiatric) symptoms.
​​​(rapid, individualized, precise specification for treatment is relatively unique in child emergency mental health.)

Lutheran World Relief

1) UNIQUELY, we are interviewing conversationally, listening for details of personal war experience & remaining suffering -
manifest by remaining trauma symptoms allows us to measure the overall effects of their trauma,
learn how they have coped, and how well their method of coping has worked in terms
of resilience and wellbeing. 
2) the conversational method means the children are not required to read.
It allows us to quickly quantify their traumatic experiences, ways of managing and coping​​, their current wellbeing
& mental health (not possible if they were required to read questions, write complex answers in a traumatized state.
                                        
we are listening for expressed psychosocial distress or strengths​, indicators of sturdy, flexible coping &
mental health vs. expression of more serious psychiatric symptoms (anxiety, depression, dissociation)
or the absence of mental health symptoms). 

we are also able to continually gather data on topics expressed in the children's responses, such as child and family coping
in contexts of helplessness and extreme adversity, he effects on children of unremitting loss and war trauma,
the changing characteristics and trends of current disasters, multiple armed  conflicts, unending migration, ​& the nature of
effective global humanitarian responses.

Finally, with these results, we can rapidly and accurately assign children to valid, appropriate interventions,
-- collective or individual treatment such as art or other expressive, symbolic therapies, meditation - self-regulation, 
training groups in an informed, ​knowledgeable manner, such as the Portable Calm (meditation) program.
we strive to craft therapeutic work that can be provided rapidly, confidently, and will be truly fitting - children will find
themselves working side by side with others who come with similar experiences ​and may have used similar ways of coping -
may even be experiencing similar residual trauma symptoms, -- all of which will enhance their sense of belongingness..

our vision
Using listening as our primary tool, we are giving uprooted, traveling children an early, clear, and decisive voice in their futures.
By matching their personal, direct trauma experiences to interventions (using their assessment profiles
to match them with children with similar profiles)
we maximize their potential for feeling they are not alone in their journeys, maximize the world's understanding
ofwar-affected children's both distinct and varied nature and effectsof war traumatization over time,
and across domains (cognitive, emotional, intra-psersonal and interpersonal) and generate wider support 
for the provision of ​rapid, early, inexpensive, developmentally appropriate need - and evidence-based
intervention for traveling children and youth.

Our vision extends to enhancing collaborating with others by and providing training and mentoring
to those who are open, training our trainers well, particularly in the administration
of meditation for children, art and art therapy programs for children - as these allow us to ensure
enriching children's live with essential longterm resources addressing emotional regulation skills
that they can integrate on a  daily basis to support and enhance their strength and resilience;
thus their confidence and hopefulness. 

Mercy Corps 2015

​bearing witness
expressing deep gratitude to individuals & humanitarian agencies whose work for uprooted,
unaccompanied children & youth continually inspires us
"thoughtfully acknowledging & commending Agencies & Individuals: who assist & protect vulnerable &
uprooted, 'wandering children'"
2017 & 2018
SAFE PASSAGE UK - provides safe, legal routes to sanctuary in the UK for uprooted children/youth.
​THE HUMMINGBIRD PROJECT UK - REFUGEE AID & SOLIDARITY safeguarding/care 4 young refugees, London/Brighton.
ART REfUGE UK - needs-led 1st response child art/art therapy, experienced UK artists/art therapists-Grenfell Tower Fire, London; Calais
CARE4CALAIS- direct aid for children/youth in some of the worst longstanding homeless/camp & sleeping rough conditions: Calais, France
LIFELINE NEHEMIAH PROJECT - Sierra Leone & PJ Mandewa Cole - immense variety of public, educational
& contracted vocational projects designed to attract & train youth to give back to Their country
rather than migrate. Provided incredible. immediate response to Freetown Floods & Mudslides; promotes Queen's Young Leaders.
LIFELINE has begun to work with very very young pregnant teens, providing them with mentors, mothering support, and job training.
INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR MENTAL HEALTH & HUMAN RIGHTS, ICMHHR, CEO, Gaea Logan, MA, LPC-S.
CEO, ICMHHR: humanitarian leader, dialogue between trauma & Buddhist psychology training trainers to provide group trauma
treatment,wounded communities (Tibet). Created/implementing powerful 5-yr. project, Makawere School of Public Health, Uganda.
2016
EVIDENCE AID - improving evidence based decision-making/accountability in humanitarian response; collaborates with
Centre for Evidence Based Medicine to promote a more evidence based approach with over twenty organizations.
HUMAN HEALTH AID BURUNDI (HHI) - first response/psychosocial support, war-ravaged mothers/children,
vulnerable elders/ those who are ill in camps.
2015
BARACK OBAMA, MICHELLE OBAMA, & CONGRESSMAN JOHN LEWIS - unrelenting everyday kindness; visible,
consistent compassion and timely, personal expressions of comfort and grace for children and families.
HIS MAJESTY KING ABDULLAH II & QUEEN RANIA OF JORDAN - comprehensive dedication to ensuring protection
& wellbeing of children and families forcibly displaced by armed conflict, welcoming & protecting intergenerational mid-eastern
refugees; collaborating with countless humanitarian agencies such as SAVE the Children - Jordan.

the always.project (always be listening global initiative)
​promotes learning and sharing between agencies, collaboration,
unqualified assistance/protection, and "safe, legal, passage for children/youth" wherever they are in the world. 
we currently focus on war/armed conflict affected children/youth who are unaccompanied in sub-Saharan Africa,
fleeing to Burundi and Tanzania camps, and those fleeing and then trapped in Calais, and the streets of Paris, France
(and others who are trapped in unfriendly countries without means of survival and strongly affected by winterization.)
We also address those homeless and often invisible and vulnerable to trafficking in the US, and work cooperatively
with religious and secular organizations, educators, medical personnel, volunteers, politicians, legal teams working
for the wellbeing of children/youth alone and at risk as a result of domestic or war-related conflict.

​We honor the spirit and work of Congressman John Lewis and former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama
for their demonstrated compassion and incalculable, continued tireless work for those who are underserved and vulnerable. 
​We believe they "listened" to the cries of the people they served.