In many circumstances, people struggling with trauma do not have the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to manage their emotional reactions, establish and achieve personal goals, or increase relational skills. Many survivors are unable to access the supports necessary to develop important coping skills and build relational abilities. Moreover, they do not have essential information on trauma that would promote the normalization of their experiences. They interpret their behaviors as weird or strange rather than normal reactions to abnormal events. Other people may not feel comfortable participating in traditional counselling environments or one-on-one therapy sessions. In South Sudan there is limited infrastructure and qualified personnel to deal with issues of mental health. The few NGOs focusing on mental health prioritize psychosocial support services because of the lack of infrastructure in South Sudan and the capacity to deal with mental health issues. The medication for psychiatric disorders is very expensive and usually is imported from outside the country. In the absence of these specialized services. It is important to deal with trauma focusing on healing and avoiding re-traumatization. The conflict in South Sudan has affected mostly women, young girls and children
CREW organized a Four-Day Training of Trainers (TOT) that provided our girls’ mentors who are female teachers and young women activists with an understanding of the concept of trauma healing and psychosocial support. The training was meant to provide mentors with knowledge and skills to enable them understand Trauma, its healing process and their roles in providing trauma healing services to the young girls CREW engages with. At the classroom and community level, teachers need to be trained in psychosocial support and how to identify symptoms of trauma in order to effectively address trauma common with students (girls).
Secondly, some of our mentors have also undergone traumatic events in their lives which affects their ability to effectively help the girls. Trauma causes powerlessness and fear, the training aimed at helping the mentors identify their own trauma and develop personal action plans to deal with it before going out to conduct trauma healing trainings with the girls. Change indeed begins with self.
One of the mentors explaining her group’s discussion on signs and symptoms of trauma
The four (4) days training gave the mentors an understanding of Trauma and Trauma overview, Symptoms and triggers of trauma, wounded-ness and psychosocial well-being, Mindfulness and the phases of healing, how to respond to trauma with self and among youth and children, Emotional regulation, Mentoring and support system, Safety and relationships, IASC guidelines on mental health and Communication and Self-care.
For a case study, the mentors also watched a short video on trauma (sexual violence). This film was meant to highlight the most common form of GBV in South Sudan, Early/forced marriage of girls and to put the mentors in a practical situation of some of the challenges they might have to handle while dealing with the girls
The objectives of the training were to;
- To help the mentors share their experiences of traumatic events with one another and how to overcome the pain.
- To explore trauma manifestation and strategies of helping mentors and girls to heal.
- To equip the mentors with knowledge and skills on trauma healing processes.
The ten (10) trained mentors comprised of seven (7) young women activists from the media, law, entrepreneurship, fashion and design sectors and three (3) female teachers (girls’ metrons) from three secondary schools namely; Promise Land, Juba Day and Don Bosco Senior Secondary School.
