48 Day 2. Life is turned upside down( continued)
TO THE TRAINER
PART II: THE TRAINING
KEY POINT
Aim. To take the story forward, making sure that participants understand its metaphor in the same terms as the storyteller.
This section of the story
• Recounts the turning point of the story.
• Illustrates trauma reactions.
• Identifies reactions in the five focus areas.
Continue the story.
Ask the participants if they recognise what happens in a community when conflict and unrest arrive, even before women are affected directly. Make this discussion brief. Its purpose is to make sure that the participants understand what is happening in the story. Then continue.
EXERCISE
Exercise 5. Identifying trauma reactions.
The story describes the main reactions or survival strategies that human beings display when they are faced by life-threatening events. All the main ones are mentioned in the story.
Encourage the participants to identify each of the reactions and write it down as it is named:
• Fight.
• Flight.
• Freeze.
•‘ Playing dead’/ submission.
This exercise illustrates the reactions and emotions that people display when they are in threatening situations. Make sure that participants can identify them when they occur in the story.
Validate the participants’ answers when they show that they understand trauma reactions.( For more information on symptoms, refer to Section 1 of Part III.)
TEACHING INSTRUCTION. At the end of the exercise, encourage everybody to take a deep breath.