Empowering Refugees Through Training
The Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) trained refugees as peer counselors in Guinea and Sierra Leone. The refugees themselves trained to provide mental health services to others who have suffered torture and war trauma. By training community members, CVT increased the number of people it could serve. They created a group of qualified mental health paraprofessionals in communities that had before had no mental health services. Paraprofessionals perform many of the tasks of professionals, but within a system of supervision. Training paraprofessional community members provided sustainability of mental health services in the community.
Addressing Mental Health Needs
The wars and civil conflicts in West Africa have affected a large proportion of the population, and driven many people into refugee camps. An international organization like CVT could not possibly bring in enough staff to meet the need for mental health services. Instead, CVT decided to draw on resources within the camps. By the end, they recruited more than 120 refugees as peer counselors, or psychosocial agents (PSAs), in camps in Guinea and Sierra Leone.
The refugee camps provided a concentrated area of survivors needing help. They were also good locations for the prolonged close supervision and training needed to assist torture survivors. Many of the PSAs received up to four years of ongoing training and daily supervision. After their training, the program moved into the communities where the atrocities happened.
A Holistic Training Approach
The intensive hands-on training in CVT’s model combines different forms of therapy. It uses Western psychotherapy with local understandings of trauma and recovery. The program began with a two-week training session. Followed by day-long monthly and seven-day quarterly training sessions. These sessions focused on trauma theory, general psychology, counseling, and communication skills. CVT psychologists and social workers worked daily in the camps. They modeled behavior and helped PSAs practice their skills. On the job, the PSAs spent ten weeks observing mental health professionals facilitating therapy groups. Then ten weeks co-facilitating and ten weeks leading a group on their own with periodic supervision. By the end of their training, PSAs are well-versed in the effects of trauma and in trauma recovery facilitation and program evaluation. They are also skilled group facilitators and effective communicators.
For more information on this tactic, read our in-depth case study.
The Center for Victims of Torture is helping rebuild communities in which large portions of the population have suffered torture or war trauma and been forced to leave their homes. Essentially, CVT is using this tactic to help a community heal itself. The refugees who train as PSAs are empowered as they learn new skills and do something positive for their community. The people they serve see that someone from their own community, rather than an outsider, is in a position to help them. And at the same time, people in the camps receive the mental health care they need. While this tactic has been applied here to help victims of torture and war trauma, it could also be used to serve other populations with large numbers of people deeply affected by violence.
New Tactics in Human Rights does not advocate for or endorse specific tactics, policies or issues.
