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Protecting a survivor when she reports what happened to her( continued)
SAID ALOUD
Aim. To practise how to accompany a survivor who decides to tell her story.
Trainer. Let me introduce a new role play.
Role Play 6. How to support a survivor when she tells her story.( 15 minutes.)
Form pairs. One of you plays the role of Helper and the other the role of a Survivor who has decided to report her experience. When you are the Helper:
• Check whether the Survivor is ready to tell her story and understands the risks.
• Make sure that you have talked about her human rights. Refer to the human rights values listed on page 31.
• Practise the stop signal and saying no. Advise the Survivor to talk in headlines.
• Help the Survivor to tell the story of her trauma. Remind her to avoid details. Keep her in the present.
ROLE PLAY EXERCISE
PART II: THE TRAINING
After a few minutes, change roles.
At the end of the exercise, remember to brush off your role, and take off your scarf if you are the Survivor.
After the exercise, the Trainer will give you time to ask questions and discuss.
Trainer. Let us continue.
The Butterfly Woman was getting better as the days passed. Nevertheless, she had problems with nightmares and she asked for help. The helper said:“ The function of dreaming is to process what happens in our lives when we are awake. Nightmares are our most difficult dreams. When you have nightmares about your rape, you are reliving the trauma. Often one wakes up when the nightmare is at its worst. When this happens your body and mind cannot finish making sense of what happened, so the nightmare tends to repeat itself. When we dream we cannot move. This paralysis can continue even after waking up from a nightmare, and can be very scary and triggering. The darkness of night can itself be triggering. Sometimes the trauma happened at night. In the dark it’ s also difficult to orient oneself and ascertain whether the situation is dangerous or not.”
Because of her dreams, the Butterfly Woman was afraid to go to bed. The helper told her that she could do things to improve her sleep. She said it was important to develop good routines. They talked about what could be done and the helper made a list of important things that the Butterfly Woman could do at home to help herself sleep and to cope with nightmares.