Unika Atma Jaya's Faculty of Psychology Collaborates with IOM to Help Immigrants
6/12/2023 12:00:00 AM
Jakarta, 12 June 2023 – The Faculty of Psychology of Universitas Katolik Indonesia (Unika) Atma Jaya has a vision to become a pioneer in humane and transformative psychological approaches for the world community.
To achieve this vision, the Faculty of Psychology collaborates with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Indonesia to provide as much assistance as possible to refugees from various countries who are awaiting departure to a new country.
This collaboration was first realised on 27 May with a joint activity between the Faculty of Psychology and the Immigrants, which numbered around 30 people. Activities carried out by the Immigrants together with students of the Faculty of Psychology include making handicrafts from recycled materials, discussing, and learning together.
As a follow-up to the activity at the end of May, Master of Psychology held another activity with International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Indonesia immigrants on Tuesday (06/06), in the form of Diversity Awareness training.
To create a diversity-friendly organisational context, a solution is needed and can be realised starting from building awareness or sensitivity to diversity itself.
A total of 15 IOM immigrants from various countries with high conflict levels such as Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt and Palestine attended the training held at the 14th floor of Yustinus Building, Campus 1 Semanggi.
Various activities such as discussion sessions, sharing, games and other interactive activities were carried out to help immigrants who attended to manage diversity in an interesting form so that it did not seem rigid and boring.
There are three different sessions that immigrants will participate in to get to know and understand more about diversity:
Session I
Aims to study the unconscious biases (prejudices or assumptions) that exist within each individual based on stereotypes of a country.
Session II
It aims to broaden immigrants' knowledge of culture, which is not only the heritage of an ethnicity (such as dance, food, art, language, etc.) but also the values, beliefs, perspectives and attitudes of the people in a country.
Session III
Aiming to increase understanding of the tolerance and empathy of immigrants, as well as applying the understanding gained in the previous session so that they can work together with individuals/groups from other cultures/countries.
The training sessions have one core objective in common, which is to improve the ability of immigrants to have an awareness of diversity and the ability to manage this diversity so that they can adapt to the country in which they live.
With the assistance of 3 representatives of the IOM, the training facilitators who are S2 students of the Faculty of Psychology Unika Atma Jaya (FPUAJ) who are under the supervision of the lecturers of the relevant courses can at the same time practice the knowledge that has been obtained during the lecture.
In accordance with the vision that has been owned, FPUAJ S2 students are expected to apply a sense of concern for the cultural diversity of society and have skills and abilities in the application of ethical psychology.
With a mission to dedicate its skills in psychology to the needs of the community, FPUAJ was chosen as one of IOM Indonesia's partners to also work together to assist in the mental improvement process of refugees.
In addition, FPUAJ students can also learn and practice the knowledge that has been obtained during college and help refugees to be able to get the right to life as a human being in terms of mental health.
Hopefully, the cooperation between the Faculty of Psychology Unika Atma Jaya (FPUAJ) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Indonesia can continue to be established and have more joint activities.
