What will you learn ?
As participants go through the manual , they will discuss and understand the impacts that traumatic events have on individuals , their reactions to trauma , and why those reactions are so frequent , strong and distressing . By following a story , practising exercises , and being active in group work , the participants will explore understandings of trauma , and practice ways of dealing with traumarelated reactions . The exercises will give the participants new skills that are useful in their work with trauma survivors , and at the same time strengthen the respectfulness of their approach and attitude . The aim is to enable helpers to apply practically the skills , approaches and attitudes they learn during the training , whether they work with survivors over long periods or meet them more briefly .
The grounding exercises and role plays may initially seem difficult to participants who are not used to this type of work . They are nevertheless a vital part of the training because , in doing them , participants experience the physical and mental effects that grounding exercises have on the body .
The Butterfly Woman story , which runs through the training , has several functions .
• A fictional story can be a shared point of reference .
• Linking the acquisition of skills to a story can strengthen memory and learning .
• Because a story can show that everyone responds similarly to gender-based violence without touching on individual cases or a survivor ’ s own experience , story-telling is a valuable tool for working with survivors .
• A story can describe , generically and using informal language , the changes that occur in a person who is traumatised : sudden alterations in her behaviour , reactions and feelings after the trauma ; her physical responses ; changes in her relationships with others and the surrounding world . Clinically , of course , reactions vary from person to person ; but a story can capture general or frequent forms of response .
• It can assist helpers to understand concretely how particular tools and exercises can help survivors . By vividly embedding interventions in a context , it can strengthen and enrich learning .
Further information about trauma and trauma reactions is provided in Part III .