U.S. Department of State’s “DipNote”: Collective Trauma and Challenges to Diplomacy
Ashley Faler, intern in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at the U.S. Department of State, highlights a Facebook Live event with Sousan Abadian, a Franklin fellow with the Office of International Religious Freedom in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, who discussed mental health and the challenges of collective trauma on diplomacy. Faler writes, “If the members of the global community that work with victims of collective trauma abroad are not aware of the effects that their presence may have on affected communities, or are not aware of how working with communities affected by trauma might impact their own mental health, then diplomacy becomes difficult” (4/10).