Story
Sonia Styrkacz is a psychologist who teaches, among other places, at Collegium Humanum and WSB National Louis University. She is currently completing her doctoral studies in pedagogy at the University of Silesia and is about to start a doctoral programme at the University of Warsaw. Higher education? It was a conscious choice for her, even though she was an average student in secondary school. But after graduation, she started seeing herself as a psychologist, both as a researcher and a therapist.
She is actively involved in helping refugees in the field of psychology, mainly working with adults. Although it's just the beginning of her journey, she is already honing her skills in clinical psychology. She independently counsels several patients and provides consultations for medical students. If she has anything to complain about, it's only the lack of time for herself.
However, more important issues are at stake. After all, she is a psychologist from the Roma minority, a group that is not large in Poland. Who could understand this community better than her? "I faced a big challenge, and I don't try to hide that it was difficult in many ways," she tells us. What ways? People of Roma origin encounter various barriers in Poland. In this sense, Sonia Styrkacz's assistance is more practical than theoretical. To help them from a psychological and social perspective, she must first build a relationship with them based on trust and mutual respect.
It's hard for her to speak about the community as a whole, as Roma people are highly diverse. "While we share a common cultural code and a knowledge of the language, the nuances in dialects and cultural practices are significant," she explains. In the broadest sense, we have to start by acknowledging that roles of women and men in the Roma community are simply different. Regardless of her own views on the role of women in society, she cannot impose her vision on people who have their own perspectives.
The fact she’s educated is not as obvious for some, as not every Roma woman completes higher education. It's a strong stereotype: Roma people do not pursue education. Sonia knows people who deny this stereotype, and many pursue education abroad. "Maybe not everyone has a Ph.D.," she says, "but some people complete vocational schools. It's still not the level of education I would like to see in the community, but it's certainly progressing. More and more people are aware of the importance of education; new generations think differently than the previous ones, and I'm sure this drop will erode the rock."
Today, Roma people are builders, hairdressers, business owners, car traders, or engaged in mobile trade. Regardless of where they work, the important thing is that they remain active professionally. This means that they have the competencies and skills needed in the job market.
Sonia often feels the desire to help everyone immediately, to be fully engaged. However, she knows that diving into activism with such a strong commitment could lead to burnout quickly. "To avoid that, I have to set boundaries," she adds.
Just as there are not many Roma psychologists in Poland, there are few psychologist-supervisors with whom Styrkacz could analyze and rethink practices for supporting Roma people. To succeed in this, she had to develop her own. As she mentioned earlier, it mainly revolves around building relationships. Sonia specifies, "Until I build them, there's no chance of people speaking openly with me."
It's worth emphasizing that her connection with the community is based on an understanding of being a member of a minority group. She is a Polish citizen, so issues related to positioning in the community and understanding phenomena faced by people from ethnic and national minorities, such as discrimination, prejudice, and stereotypes, are not unknown to her. "I’m familiar with it all, and I know it happens at every level of educational or professional life.
As an educated person, she has often faced stereotypes about education in the Roma community, even in the university environment. If she remembers something from her life, it's mainly proving, almost double proving, that she is a competent person and that her qualifications are high enough to take on a given task. Therefore, she can understand well what people of Roma origin may feel in Poland. Regarding her childhood or more personal issues, Styrkacz does not want to talk about it; she encapsulates those experiences in one sentence: "There were ups and downs."
However, her experience and that of the people she works with differ in a crucial aspect that affects the sense of security: she lives in a country where there is no war. Therefore, refugees bring entirely different experiences to Poland. "Speaking about people who came to Poland from Ukraine, we are talking about people experiencing traumas," she emphasizes. Who are refugees? It cannot be precisely defined because it is essentially a cross-section of society: from very poor and uneducated people who cannot read or write to individuals with high professional and economic status. Many Roma people currently in Poland come from Zakarpattia, and they have a difficult history of discrimination.
However, each of these individuals faces different problems, from the loss of loved ones to depression. There are also those for whom it is simply difficult to settle in Poland, to find work, housing, and schools for children because they live in a state of dispersion, e.g. with part of the family in Ukraine and part in Germany. Many families are currently in a state of dispersion. Sonia says, "They are trying to rebuild their lives when their sense of security and stability is disrupted, and the future is a big unknown for them."
Her patients wonder whether language will be an obstacle to rebuilding their lives, or if they look like Roma women, will they get housing, work, and a place for their child in school? "We are talking about fears that activate on the level of everyday life in aspects that some of us never even think about," says the psychologist, calling the approach to Ukrainian refugees and those with Roma roots in Poland a "double standard."
Therefore, what Styrkacz strives to do in her work is to build a sense of personal security in Roma individuals, ensuring access to education, work, and activities where they can learn the language. Everything that allows a person to stay on track and start life anew.
"When talking about traumas, it's worth distinguishing generational trauma," adds Sonia, which means beliefs passed from generation to generation, e.g., by a grandmother onto her daughter, then her granddaughter, and the next generation: "Don't study; you won't get a job." "When it happens that a person in fact doesn’t get a job, it's like a self-fulfilling prophecy," says the psychologist, trying to work on these issues. Another important task is motivational work. Conversations that could arouse this motivation, raise self-worth and self-esteem, as these are often significantly low. Styrkacz says, "I can say that with practically everyone I've worked with so far, I talked about self-esteem."
Roma people have been in Poland for generations; they are Poles. According to the psychologist, there are many good practices and examples of living together: more and more mixed marriages, raising children in two different cultures, and this process is continually dynamic. "I wouldn't perceive it as black-and-white, that either it's good or it's bad," she emphasizes.
However, refugees wanting to build their lives in Poland face much more difficulty than Polish Roma, who were in the country earlier. "Sometimes, talking to Polish Roma, I heard, 'Why do they come here? We will be more visible, we may experience more discrimination, the more Roma there are.' But in my opinion, that's not true. I wouldn't want to turn refugees into some kind of scapegoat on whom responsibility can be shifted."
Despite her willingness and hard work, systemic support in Poland is still lacking. The majority of the work falls on the third sector. This includes systemic discrimination, such as the acceptance of refugee children into schools, while Roma children face exclusion. For some reason, this is happening. Without bringing attention to such situations, little will change in the system.
In this mindset, Sonia Styrkacz is also an activist, although she doesn't necessarily label herself that way; she simply takes action. Even participating in the project of the Foundation Towards Dialogue is a form of activism for her. "By working for the community and talking about it, I also represent it. I don't aim for that intentionally; I just do my thing." In doing so, she can showcase the strength of Romani women, and how they represent their families and break stereotypes.
What does being a Romani woman mean to Sonia Styrkacz? "It simply means being a human. I don't categorize it. I take on various social roles and do what is important to me. And although my identity is strong, I primarily represent myself." What she would most like is to find a common understanding, initiate a dialogue, sit together, and think about solutions. To find a common language and shared ways of action. After all, the goal for everyone is the same: a better life.
The views and conclusions expressed in the text represent the author's opinions and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Heinrich Böll Foundation.