LocationsStrengthening Coordination on Trauma Awareness among Persons with Disabilities
March 25, 2024
Participants at the Trauma Awareness Coordination Meeting
Helping Hands, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is continuing its work on promoting inclusivity of people with disabilities on trauma awareness, healing and reconciliation. This partnership recognizes that people living with disabilities often experience and/ or witness varied levels of marginalization, abuse, violence and other traumas in their daily life, which are further worsened in conflict contexts.
After facilitated Trauma Awareness Workshops in Juba and Jonglei, Helping Hands with the technical support from UNDP, conducted coordination meetings that brought together trained Psychosocial Community Volunteers representing persons with disabilities and Trauma Healing and Psychosocial Support Facilitators (TOTs) trained by UNDP.
The objectives of the meetings include:
• To brief the Psychosocial Community Volunteers on their roles in the field when they go out for outreach exercises especially on trauma awareness
• To understand the availability of referral pathways for the survivors of trauma and how they can access them
• To understand the importance of Do No Harm Approach in dealing with Psychosocial Support concerns
Participants at the Trauma Awareness Coordination Meeting
The meetings started on 22 March 2024 and continues on a regular basis. During the coordination meetings, the participants had the opportunity to express their own traumatic experience, based on a psychosocial group support approach. The reflections allowed them to connect with their emotions and discuss the impact of the war on their mental health, but how they can provide psychosocial support to other persons with disabilities within the community, respecting the diversity and also acknowledging the emotions with confidentiality.
“Being here and sharing with you what happened with me is helping me to heal, then I will be able to support others to heal as well, thank you to UNDP” Representative of Persons with Disabilities, also a Psychosocial Community Volunteer
“Long time ago, I was not able to share my traumatic experience, after my healing process, today I am not only able to share but also to encourage and support the Community Volunteers to help others by providing psychosocial support”. THPSS Facilitator (TOT) trained by UNDP.
“Community inclusive based approaches, including sharing of traumatic experiences within a safe space, contribute not only to healing but also to fostering mental health, psychosocial wellbeing and sustainable peace” UNDP Psychosocial Support Specialist