Lenita Dunlap with the Heart House kids
Heart House CEO Lenita Dunlap will be speaking at the 2019 Australia and New Zealand Refugee Trauma Recovery in Resettlement Conference in Queensland, Australia. The conference will be held Mar. 27 – 30, 2019 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. Ms. Dunlap’s workshop, scheduled for the first day of the internationally-renowned gathering, will focus on the holistic Heart House model of bringing mental health to supporting refugee children in the after-school setting.

The conference is an initiative of FASSTT – The Forum of Australian Services for Survivors of Torture and Trauma. FASSTT is a network of Australia’s eight specialist rehabilitation agencies that work with survivors of torture and refugee trauma. The first conference was held on Mar. 2017 in Sydney, Australia, at which Dunlap was also was invited to speak.

Lenita Dunlap said she is honored to attend the conference and share the organization’s mission with attendees. “It’s both humbling and fascinating; knowing that what we do is innovative in addressing trauma caused by war and violence and could potentially help thousands of individuals in these circumstances”, said Dunlap.

“Heart House has it’s very own ‘chaos-to-calm’ story and sharing its success and work is the highlight of my life. I can’t wait to share this is Australia this year.”

The theme of this year’s conference is “Healing in Exile – Current and Future Challenges.” Speakers will discuss initiatives that have enabled individuals with refugee backgrounds to “recover from torture and other traumatic events and resettle in their new context.”

For more information about the conference please visit: www.refugeetraumaconf.org.au