In mid-June, Pilgrim partnered with the Trauma Studies Center in New York (part of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy) to bring the trauma counseling and training to Soroti. Rosemary Masters, Betsy McConnell, Paula Gellis, Barbara Rachlin, Rachel Goldsmith, and Judith Friedman all traveled from New York to share their knowledge. For several of them this was their second or third visit to Uganda to train counselors and those who work with traumatized individuals. The fifty conference attendees included social workers, teachers, pastors, prison guards, and people from various other professions. Several Pilgrim counselors attended and several Americans associated with International Teams. I am working on a business project in Kampala, and was able to attend as a special guest of Pilgrim, as I am interested in trauma counseling.
The topic this year was Restoration and Renewal, focusing on background and techniques in counseling trauma victims. The region of Teso has experienced traumatizing circumstances for the past decades. The LRA abducted many children and killed many people. The Karamajong, a pastoralist neighboring people group, have raided their cattle for many years, impoverishing the farmers. And in the last few years the people of Teso have seen floods and famine. The need for trauma counselors is great.
The six facilitators presented the material using different teaching methods. The first day of sessions was devoted to how trauma affects the brain and what symptoms to recognize. The next day dealt with teaching certain skills to stabilize a trauma victim. The last day focused on how to care for oneself as the counselor to prevent burnout. Each day the facilitators presented an act featuring a counselor and a client who they had counseled so that the attendees could learn principles of counseling thru critiquing. The counselor would give a short background story of the client leaving out specific information to protect the identity. Then they would play that client as someone else played the counselor. I don’t know which I learned more from; the American counselors presenting the material, or the Ugandans who lived this work for many years. The stories they recounted of different clients astounded me -the things child soldiers went thru, child rape, or even just normal life to these people. Each day's teaching sessions began with singing cultural songs in Ateso and Swahili and some dancing, and great worship times.
By the end everyone learned and found the material helpful, especially the way in which it was presented. The counselors from the Trauma Studies Center presented at a level available to everyone while covering an impressively large topic. Each day breaks included morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea so that everyone could socialize and learn from each other outside the class as it were. The last day everyone stayed for a feast and one last time to mingle and eat excellent Ugandan food together.
Related Links: Trauma Treatment Program, Beacon Medical Centre
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