Alexandra Chen, a specialist in childhood trauma, is on her way from the Lebanese capital Beirut to the southern town of Nabatiyeh, where she's running a workshop for teachers, child psychologists and sports coaches who are dealing with the Syrian children scarred by war in their homeland.
"All of the children have experienced trauma to varying degree," explains Chen, who works for Mercy Corps and is training a dozen new hires for her aid group.
Her intense five-day workshop is based on skills and techniques developed in other conflict zones, used for the first time here.
"They need to know enough to understand exactly what's going on in the brain of the children they are working with," Chen says of her trainees. Her course stresses the science of severe trauma, which can be toxic for the brain.
"The human memory remembers negative memories almost four times more strongly than positive ones," she says.
Some 2 million Syrian children have been displaced by the war and more than 1 million of them now refugees in neighboring countries. One of the biggest challenges for international aid agencies is healing the invisible scars of war in the youngest victims.
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