Community Counselor - Introduction

Introduction

The operations of the Academy for Disaster Management Education Planning and Training (ADEPT) in the aftermath of the Tsunami were focussed on fulfilling the needs felt for psychosocial intervention. Mindful of problems of entry into the ethnocentric fishing community, whose social fabric had been rendered fragile by the aftermath of the Tsunami, ADEPT was faced with the issue of dealing with the psychological trauma suffered by nearly 100,000 survivors in 51 hamlets and villages scattered across nearly 100 km of coastline. Counseling in emergency situations is a labor intensive activity and at that time there was the dearth of trained personnel, especially at short notice.

The premise for the work undertaken by ADEPT in the aftermath of the Tsunami was that the human mind had been both the biggest victim and the strongest survivor and therefore trauma counseling was the greatest challenge.

While one may define trauma as a condition that overwhelms ordinary human life, we must also recognize the different psychological needs in cases of individual and collective trauma. This paper discusses the model of crisis intervention adopted by ADEPT including the following:

  • the need for developing an alternate model for dealing with the psychological trauma of survivors in the aftermath of the Tsunami.
  • the model of lay community counselors that ADEPT has evolved with lessons learned in the field.

Read more about this topic:  Community Counselor

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