North: £6.75m centre will offer trauma treatments

A trauma centre for the victims and survivors of Northern Ireland’s Troubles was boosted today under a £6.75m package announced by the Government.

A trauma centre for the victims and survivors of Northern Ireland’s Troubles is to receive £6.75m in funding.

Northern Ireland Office Victims Minister Des Browne pledged £1.5m to the recently-established Centre for Trauma and Transformation which draws on lessons from treating victims of the Omagh bombing.

It is hoped the £1.5m will help the Omagh-based centre develop a range of treatment services, advance education and learning about the assessment and treatment of trauma and promote and take forward research into the most effective ways of providing support for those affected by violence.

Mr Browne also announced that out of the £6.75m funding:

:: £3m would go to a core funding scheme for groups working with victims and survivors over the next two years while an appraisal of how the scheme has operated takes place.

:: £1.5m will go to the Northern Ireland devolved government’s strategy for addressing the needs of survivors and victims of the Troubles across a range of ministerial departments. This matches the £1.5m announced by Stormont Finance Minister Mark Durkan on December 3.

:: £750,000 has been allocated to the reintroduction of a Community Relations Council-run grants scheme for small or newly established victims groups for projects involving children and adults affected by the Troubles.

Mr Browne paid tribute to those in the statutory, community and voluntary sectors in Northern Ireland engaged in work with victims and survivors of the conflict.

He declared: ‘‘This latest allocation of funding recognises the need to carry this work forward and demonstrates the Government’s commitment to recognise and respond to the needs of victims and survivors.

‘‘Provision of funding to the Northern Ireland Centre for Trauma and Transformation will help to ensure that the lessons from the work done in the aftermath of the Omagh bombing will be used to address the human consequences of the ongoing suffering arising from the Troubles.

‘‘This initiative also allows us to build upon the expertise which has been developed in the care and treatment of trauma and to ensure that future models of care are based on evidence-based best practice.’’