What are the human consequences of conflict and what are the appropriate service responses? This book seeks to provide an answer to these important questions, drawing on over twenty-five years of work by the author in Northern Ireland and elsewhere. Focusing on the work undertaken following the Omagh bombing, the book describes how needs were assessed and understood, how evidence-based services were put in place, and the training and education programmes that were developed to assist first those communities affected by the bombing and later the wider population affected by the years of conflict. The author places the mental-health needs of affected communities at the heart of the political and peace processes that follow. This is a practical book and will be of particular interest to those planning for and responding to conflict-related disasters, policy makers, service commissioners and providers, politicians, civil servants and peace makers.

David Bolton is a trauma researcher, writer and practitioner

Introduction1 The Omagh bombing and the communitys response 2 The Omagh Community Trauma and Recovery Team 3 Assessing the mental-health impact of the Omagh bombing4 The mental-health impact of the Troubles, 1969995 The mental-health impact of the Troubles, 2000156 The Northern Ireland Centre for Trauma and Transformation: a comprehensive trauma centre7 The development of a trauma-focused therapy programme8 Trauma-focused skills training for practitioners 9 Research, advocacy and policy support10 Planning for and responding to the mental health impact of conflictPost script: the rupture of loss and traumaIndex