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SELF-HELP ACTION
SUPPORTING
SURVIVORS OF TORTURE AND
TRAUMA IN SE ASIA, OCEANIA AND AUSTRALASIA
A PLAN OF SMALL
GENERALISABLE ACTIONS
Posted Jan 1998. Updated April 2014. Other Links
Evolving a SE Asia
Pacific Self Help Trauma Support Intercultural Network - A Small
Micro-Proposal Self-Help Action
Rebuilding Well-Being Contents
The Aftermath of Torture and Trauma Stretching Expert Resources Beyond
Effectiveness
Getting a good nights sleep -
children, adolescents and adults
Reducing, interrupting, resolving
and stopping anger and violence
Reconciling, rehabilitating and
healing of torture and trauma survivors Specific issues and needs for
healing local people
Issues for enablers, healers,
supporters, and carers
A Framework for Intercultural
Healing
Conceptual backgrounds for wellbeing
action
A Model of Sharing of That May Be
Used in Small Sharings and Larger Gatherings A Micro-Example Of Everyday Healing This document is part of
a wider project building support for Indigenous and disadvantaged small
minority trauma and torture survivors throughout the East Asia, Oceania and
Australasia Region. The following material provides
scenarios of action extending a small Micro-proposal relating to the Focal
people, namely East Timorese, Bougainvillian and other
Indigenous/disadvantaged small minority and intercultural people in the
Region. This Micro-project is outlined in the document 'Evolving an East
Asia, Oceania, Australasia Self-help Trauma Support Intercultural Network - A
Small Micro-project'. This plan for action uses
a participatory self help model. The model has been successfully actioned by
Indigenous, disadvantaged small minority and intercultural Regional Focal
people for over thirty years. The page Communal Ways
For Healing the World
contains a historical timeline of this action. This Plan is based on the
following Treaty and Code: Unique Healing Treaty This action has
demonstrated that traumatised people can provide a healing support to each
other as part of a healing community. It is self help. This is not
discussing a 'service'. People may heal themselves and pass on what works to
others within voluntary informal networks. The self-help healing network is
already evolving in the Region among for example, East Timorese and
Bougainville people. Uncompromising funding support can see it blossom. The
possibility is that the further evolving of these healing networks will not
only help bring healing to oppressed and war ravaged people, it may well be a
major process for consolidating peace processes. Refer Regaining Balance through
Mutual-Help - A Story from Life This
document is about possibilities for small local mutual-help self-heal
self-help action supporting survivors of torture and trauma among Focal
people in the Region. These healing ways have been successfully used for over
thirty years by Focal people in the Region. This
document is expressed in very tentative terms because nothing contained in
this document could happen unless local Focal people want it. Support
for torture and trauma sufferers; Rebuilding Well-being in all its forms:
The
above list is in alphabetical order - no priority is implied The
Laceweb is an informal network of intercultural people engaged in mutual-help
and self-help well-being action. This network/movement commenced in Australia
in the 1940's. It has been evolving through small local self-heal self-help
well-being action among Torres Strait Islanders, Australian South Sea
Islanders, Australian Aboriginals as well as among Indigenous, disadvantaged
small minority and intercultural people in remote and rural areas - Focal
People. It is spreading throughout the SE Asia, Oceania, Australasia Region. People
from the Laceweb who have supported themselves and other locals in
self-heal/self-help on many occasions, may be available in an enabling role
to support survivors of torture and trauma among East Timorese,
Bougainvillian and other Focal people in the Region. Actions may address
relief from trauma, oppression, poverty, sickness, misfortune, destitution,
and illness. As well, it may help sufferers of the following forms of
pressures and trauma:
The
Laceweb is not connected with any political group, faction or religion. They
respect spiritual and cultural diversity. The
Laceweb enables actions and support for torture and trauma survivors using
healing ways that may form a basis for evolving culturally appropriate
healing among diverse Focal people. The
Laceweb has, for over thirty years, demonstrated that traumatised people can
provide a healing support to each other as part of a healing community. It
is participatory self help. This is not discussing a 'service'. People
may heal themselves and pass on what works to others. This help and
support may be passed on within an expanding integrating network, and thus
support may grow exponentially. Extensive historical and research material on
the Laceweb is available via the Internet. This has been prepared in part by
a Laceweb member towards Ph.D. psychosocial research into the Laceweb and
participatory self-help models. Laceweb people may take an enabling role in
extending self help support networks in the Region. THE AFTERMATH OF TORTURE
AND TRAUMA
Virtually
no-one on the islands of East Timor and Bougainville have been unscathed. For
example, there are over 150,000 seriously affected people on Bougainville - a
massive challenge. As reported by the UN Inter-Agency Report on Bougainville
- 17 May 1995, the following are top priority issues in that context:
The
above Report suggested that these four issues be resolved as a central part
of any move to normalisation and reconciliation. PARTICIPATORY
SELF HELP
It
is noted that the PNG Government representative, in opening the talks as part
of the final drafting of the UN Inter-Agency Report on Bougainville, stated
that both 'the participation of local people' and 'self help'
processes are crucial to any meaningful normalisation on the Island
and that both should be incorporated into the Report's recommendations. The
final Report also held out those two aspects as critical. 'Participation
of local people'
and 'self help 'were again reiterated by a recent statement by
Bougainville Member of the PNG Parliament, John Momis. He noted that all
sorts of Australian organisations were wanting to come into Bougainville and
provide various 'services' - in effect, to capitalise on opportunity. He cautioned against this. The
Bougainville people want to help 'themselves' to return to normalcy. The
following view has been expressed by many Bougainvillians: 'We
Bougainville people are very cautious of outsiders who want to come in to fix
things for us. Massive needs exist in health, education, and infrastructure
to name a few. We virtually need to start from scratch. Outside help 'is'
needed. However we do not believe that having a massive range of 'services'
devised and provided across the board by outside experts is the way.' NOTE It is noted from a careful reading of the UN
Inter-Agency Report that its own recommendations contain virtually nothing
that falls within the PNG Government's and the Report's own guidelines
requiring 'participatory self help action by locals'. There is a
dearth of 'participatory self help models' among both Government bodies and
NGO's. In the UN Inter-Agency Report, while there was 'lip
service' to 'self help' and 'participation by locals', there was little
evidence of the use of participatory self-help action models. Virtually every one of the Report's
recommendation was for 'centralised' 'uniform' programs that are 'devised',
'controlled' and 'implemented' by outsiders, and via 'top down',
'bureaucratically organised', 'service delivery' processes. This is prescribing
forms of governance when 'governance' is a prime point of contention! It
is not surprising. This is the 'way' of the mainstream first nations.
Virtually all mainstream funding uses 'top down service delivery'
models as a starting point. This is never questioned. Both funding 'policy'
and 'programs' are based on this 'service delivery' model. It is the model
used at every level of Government. All Program funding 'criteria' and
'evaluation' are also based on the 'service delivery' model. Any 'sense' of
participation and 'self help' is skewed into the service delivery model. There
is a real dilemma in all of this. Bougainville people have been cut off from
the World for almost a decade. 'We
are traumatised. We are very sceptical of outsiders. The last thing we want
is someone coming in and running our lives for us. And yet the only model
that Governments and NGO's have is 'service delivery'. Service delivery
typically means 'You decide and do things for us'.' 'Participatory
self help action' as the Laceweb know it, does not meet either the funding
criteria or the evaluation criteria of 'service delivery' models. These two
models belong in different worlds. To
attempt to place a top down service delivery organisation in a watchdog role
over us using 'service delivery' criteria to 'ensure we are doing things
'properly' is unacceptable and unworkable in respect of this Participatory
Self Help Action Plan and the accompanying Micro-proposal. For example, a Laceweb proposal to
the Australian Federal Government Health Department's Rural Health Support
and Education Section (RHSET) in 1993 was prepared based on 'participatory
self help'. The proposal was extremely appealing to the Department though
deemed to be 'poorly written' - translate this as 'not using service
delivery' frameworks. The Laceweb received a further 52 questions to be
answered so that they could evaluate us. All of these questions assumed
'service delivery' and 'service delivery frameworks, contexts and criteria'.
While all the questions 'made sense' within the service delivery' model,
around 45 of the 52 questions made no sense within the 'participatory self
help' model. Examples
of 'service delivery' questions the Laceweb was asked by the Australian
Government's RHSET section: QUESTION
1 Specify
the services that you will be delivering? Response:
None.
The focus of action is 'self help' as specified in our Proposal. We
may enable self-heal/self-help if asked. QUESTION
2 Who
will be delivering the services? Response: No services will be
delivered. The Proposal is for self-help healing action through informal
networks. The current 1998 interpretation of an
appropriate response to the above question would be expressed as there may be
the very circumscribed ‘service’ of sharing helpful micro-experiences by
Laceweb members - if locals want this enabling. QUESTION 3 How
will services be delivered? Response:
There's
no service delivery. Action evolves self help healing networks - enabling
sharing of micro experiences may take place at healing gatherings - see
Proposal. QUESTION
4 What
is the roll-out timetable? Response:
This
isn't one. Action is a function of local inclination and action. QUESTION
5 What
fixed training agenda do you have? Response:
We
are enablers, not trainers. We have no fixed agenda and there is no fixed
agenda among Focal people. There is however an 'open agenda' with the
themes specified in the proposal. What happens during our time together may
be a function of local operative concerns and needs. QUESTION
6 What
are the qualifications of outside experts being used to research the current
need? Response:
No
experts are being used. Actions are based on local knowings and wisdoms about
what is missing in the Focal people's wellbeing. Self help is based on action
research by locals. Outside enablers, differ from 'experts', as detailed in
the proposal. The
Australian Government's RHSET Program had an extensive set of criteria that
had to be met for proposals to be 'acceptable'. The criteria presupposed that
certain pre-specified things must and will happen. Participatory
self help is 'not' prearranged- rather it 'organically unfolds'.
With our model, nothing has to happen. Action is inherently
tentative. Note the pervasive use of the tentative expressions 'may' and
'it's possible' throughout this plan. At the same time, with this
tentativeness, local self help energy may do what service delivery can
never do! Within
RHSET frameworks, certain aspects of wellbeing were clumped together - others
were excluded. The Laceweb proposal to RHSET was all about integrated holistic
wellbeing action that was fundamentally different to the 'what, why, when,
where, and how of 'Sectorised service delivery'. Laceweb action has both
integrity and Extegrity - the expansion of wholeness (a Laceweb concept). An
offer was made by RHSET to waive their normal criteria, though they would
use their normal criteria to evaluate progressive action. The Laceweb
declined funding to ensure that existing Laceweb momentum was not
compromised. For
implementing proposals under this Plan we would accept co-vision
relationships with international Indigenous/minority academic/research
groups known to be experienced in participatory mutual-help and self-help
models. 'Co-vision'
is a concept borrowed from transnational management consulting. The term
encapsulates contexts where trainers find that feedback from trainees train
and change trainers so much that they have to change their training to fit
the wisdom of the trainees. The concept equally applies to 'enabling'
contexts. The
Laceweb realizes that it may participate in activities funded by others. It
recognises the value of cross-cultural, cross-national and international
guidance, and support in such circumstances. The
principles it favours are that in this wider context of humanitarian
activities:
The
principles of balanced wide representation of stake-holder entities can be
continuously explored. The recent Irish peace initiatives provide valuable
lessons in this regard. We
will be fully accountable for funds. However to tie funds to doing
'participatory self help' according to 'service delivery' criteria is
unacceptable - it is a contradiction in terms and action. Evaluation
is built into every participatory self help action. However, it will be
evaluation using 'participatory self-help criteria of local people', not
'service delivery' criteria. If
funding bodies are so tied to 'service delivery' that they insist that it be
used, then funds will not be accepted for this Plan and the Micro-proposal,
and our progress will be so much slower. And
it was for good reason that the Australian Government's Austrade and AusAid
jointly ran the conferences in Melbourne and Sydney a couple of years ago
called 'Aid Business is Good Business'. Laceweb members' recollection from
attending the Melbourne Conference is that more than 90% of Australian Aid
money returns to Australian organisations who do the work, that every dollar
of aid generates a further six dollars of follow-on business and that about
75% of aid projects fall down either completely or partly. The reasons given
for this failing was because there is only central government
involvement by the recipient country, and because of lack of substantive
participation by grassroots people at the local level. Put
this record in front of say war traumatised, sceptical Bougainville people
who are very wary of outsiders, with the Panguna Copper mine (implicated in
the outbreak of hostilities) hovering in the background, and no wonder people
are wary of those bringing gifts! STRETCHING EXPERT RESOURCES
BEYOND EFFECTIVENESS
It
is possible that in large scale disasters, healing self-help is the only
process that may work with the large number of traumatised people involved.
It is understood that the model of delivery of care and support by 'experts'
almost invariably falls down in contexts where large scale disasters
occur. This is because the sheer size of the task to be done stretches expert
resources beyond effectiveness. Typically, you cannot get the numbers of
experts that would be needed to help tens of thousands of people. The cost
would be enormous. Sure,
there are different contexts and issues, however we understand that AusAid
has put substantial money into 'service based' trauma support for
Palestinians, and yet after a couple of years only a few hundred have been
supported. We are talking about substantive support to 150,000 people in
Bougainville alone! What
we are suggesting is that in large scale disasters, with the large number of traumatised
people involved, healing through voluntary informal networks by experienced
locals, enabled to engage in mutual-help and self-help healing action, is the
only process that may work. This applies to both manmade and natural
disasters. It applies Globally. Healing ways may spread far and wide like
underground mycelium. An
evolving experienced voluntary mutual-help and self-help network holds forth
the possibility of placing healing and nurturing experiences and behaviours
out in the local communities. Here they may be spread and incorporated into
every aspect of communal life, as people go about their daily lives. Some
people may desire to take on the enabling, healing micro-experience sharing,
nurturing and/or caring roles. People in these roles may develop further
nurturing carers within the communities in evolving the self-help support
network. Following
many years of gatherings and discussions between Laceweb enablers Australian
Indigenous/disadvantaged small minorities, East Timorese, Bougainvillian and
other like minority people, self -help healing networks are already
evolving in a number of areas of the Region. For example, small healing
networks of East Timorese and Bougainvillians are evolving around respective
safe havens in Top End Northern Territory, and Far North Queensland regions
in Australia (refer the accompanying Micro-proposal). Conceptions of transfer
sociograms as to how the sharing of healing
ways may work may be found on the Internet. Some local nurturers
among Focal people are sharing healing ways. They are very keen to extend
their healing micro-experiences. Following these gatherings and discussions
between Laceweb enablers and East Timorese/Bougainvillian and other Focal people,
the following possible themes, processes and healing micro-experiences may be
shared and explored. THEMES FOR ADAPTING
HEALING MICRO-EXPERIENCES The
following material has now been prepared as a manual for 14 Workshops found
at Trauma Healing Program. The following is based
upon Experiential Learning. The Greek philosopher Aristotle once said: For the things we
have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them. Experiences use and adapt the older Ways of the Region. Where children were learning things by watching what older
people do. And particularly, watching how
they do the things they are doing. By copying older people and experiencing doing lots of things. And this learning is also happening among adolescents. It is a cooperative
activity – involving lots of sharing. The focus is on learners in the process of learning. Facilitators creating contexts ideal for learning.
Through
the Oceania SE Asia Australasia Region our experience has been that
grassroots folk with little past experience in wellness action can take on
new learning through experiencing transforming ways. Wellness,
Relational Mediation and other LEARNING EXPERIENCES have been shown to be
very effective in rapid release of problems of low self-esteem, jealousy,
alcoholism and drug addiction, misunderstanding, anxiety, grief and
depression, argumentativeness, abusive behaviour, public disturbance and
other problems. They are very useful for those coping with disputes in family
and community relationships. Basic
healing ways may be experienced very quickly and they are easy to pass on to
others so they may also experience. It
is considered that a monitor or intake counsellor will need 45 hours
instruction and field experience, a mediator 90 hours and a senior mediator
180 hours. A master mediator will need about 360 hours. Facilitators are
available to set up contexts for groups to share in experiencing transforming
ways Healing Support for:
Themes and contexts for
healing within and between the above groups
Resolving
the following:
Reducing, Interrupting,
Resolving and Stopping Anger and Violence
Actions
may evolve according to local operative needs, concerns and issues. The
following may be possible broader healing themes: Reconciling, Rehabilitating
and Healing of Torture and Trauma Survivors.
Specific issues and needs
for healing local people
Issues for Enablers,
Healers, Supporters, and Carers
Issues for healing
micro-experience sharers
A Framework for
Intercultural Healing:
For:
For these people, to 'recall' may be to relive and
re-experience the pain and anguish. At the same time both the present and
past good times may be devalued and no source of pleasure. Such processes may
continually traumatize. Experience has demonstrated that helping people
explore and change how they use their brain and senses may have profound
healing value.
Enablers may have a broad concept of activities and
possibilities for the time together. Typically, the process may start out
with some structure. After a time, activities and games may begin to emerge
out of the spontaneous responding of the participants, with action possibly
evolving from the energy and inclination of the moment. In a very real sense,
the participants may evolve their own experience together. Participants of all ages may explore creative and
artistic ways of examining their local cultural well-being issues of concern
to the participants and their communities; examples may be: violence,
torture, trauma, grief, sexual, alcohol and drug abuse, suicide and
correctional healing experiences. They may create short plays, songs and
rhythms, poems, stories, dances, murals and postcards, and other materials
about these issues. The healing cultural activities as well as the dynamic
group relating may provide corrective remedial and generative emotional
micro-experiences that may lead to personal and group issues actually being
healed/resolved during the process of exploring them. At the same time
participants may be gaining competencies that they may use in the future. Cultural Healing Action in general terms may involve
actively fostering and sustaining cultural well-being. It may foster
possibilities of people extending their own culture as a balance to other
cultures which may be dominant, elitist and oppressive. As well, it is a
movement for intercultural reconciliation and well-being. It may foster the development of local Quick
Response Healing Teams
to possibly help resolve local community and international conflict. It may
provide scope for local people to actively engender and promote values,
language, practices, modes of action, arts and other aspects of a way of life
(culture). These in turn may facilitate social emancipation, intercultural
healing, cultural justice, as well as social and environmental well-being. CONCEPTUAL
BACKGROUNDS FOR WELL-BEING ACTION The healing mediation balance level is extended from family therapy,
the 'family community therapy' of Fraser House, Australia (refer 'Fraser
House' in Laceweb -
Communal ways for healing the World) and the Family Mediation Services
of Ontario, Canada. Context
healing, street mediation and group story performance
includes origins from corroboree, therapeutic communities, Nelpful analysis
(neurolinguistic programming), dance movement and Keyline organic farming. Intercultural
consensus includes Arnhemland Yolngu negotiation of meaning,
joint-authority, and concepts such as Ganma,
Galtha and Yothu-yindi. It is informed by principles of humanitarian
(caring) law. Linking Indigenous wellness ways and the latest in the Brain
Sciences - refer: o
Transforming
the Whole of It – Applying Brain Research The
blissful picture writing view is adapted
from aboriginal bark and sand painting, iconic images, and the Australian
Bliss-symbols system. Cultural
Healing Action.
Processes drawing on healing artistry
and related influences from traditional and other cultures around the world,
especially from SE Asia Pacific region, including the Tikopia people of the
Solomon Islands and applications among Aboriginal and small minority people
in SE Asia, Oceania, Australasia, and South America. The Action
approach is modified from mountaineering
ropes courses, wilderness leadership, and the work of Scout Lee. She is a
native American doctor of education who has used ropes and ritual in
improving dispute solving and community enrichment. A
MODEL OF SHARING THAT MAY BE USED WITHIN SMALL SHARINGS AND LARGER GATHERINGS Note that again, like the rest of this Plan, everything
is expressed in tentative terms ('this or that may happen'). Nothing will happen
unless we locals want it to happen
as gatherings and actions unfold. The following process may be used and imbedded firstly
within the wider exploring of issues, themes, and priorities outlined above,
and secondly, in sharing healing ways, and thirdly in evolving processes for
creating trauma support networks. Readers are again referred to the diagrams relating to
sharing and spread of healing ways on the Internet page Laceweb
Sociograms
This
section has been evolved with local Focal people and takes the local
perspective.
Readers are
again referred to Laceweb Sociograms for a richer feel for
the following process.
One Laceweb person is engaged in research for his PhD
tracing the history of the evolving within Australia of mutual-help and
self-help participatory 'healing wellbeing' models through the 'Laceweb'.
This healing social movement can be traced to community wellbeing action in
Australia in the 1940's. It has since spread throughout region. The research
is also collecting and documenting the nature, use, and outcomes of healing
micro-experiences. Another PhD has the theme: Community Development Following
the Restoration of Normalcy - Possibilities for Supporting the Evolving of
Self -help Healing Networks in Bougainville. Another Laceweb person is also
engaged in Ph.D. research. His topic is 'Participatory Self Help Action
Models and Their Development and Use Among Aboriginal and Islander People in
Australia'. A
MICRO-EXAMPLE OF EVERYDAY HEALING Local Laceweb people living in the safe haven of
Cairns, Australia played host to indigenous and small minority delegates to
the Small
Island, Coastal and Estuarine people Gathering Celebration This gather was funded
by the United Nations Human Rights Commission in June 1994. A Report to the
UN on this gathering can be found at UN Report The Laceweb
has been exploring and using forms of mediation therapy and mediation counselling.
They are simple, yet profound. At times it may be possible for whole
communities to enter into cultural healing action. A sociogram depicting this
possible move into therapeutic community is shown in the last two diagrams on
the Laceweb
Sociogram page.
Also refer Relational
Mediation and the Daughter on Bail. WIDER
APPLICATION OF THE MODEL ACROSS THE WORLD With many people of differing political persuasions
advocating 'smaller government' it may well be that the model involved in
this Plan and the Micro-proposal may have relevance in fostering contexts
where communities and groups anywhere in the World may take a greater role in
caring for themselves rather than asking Governments to do things for them. Perhaps governments at all levels who are seeking to
shift from a focus on 'service delivery' to 'participatory self-help' could
use the unfolding Laceweb experience in building policy and programs based on
the participatory self-help model as a complement to service delivery. Refer
the Laceweb paper 'Governments
and the Facilitation of Community Grassroots Wellbeing Action', a paper forwarded to the RHSET
section of the Australian Federal Health Department in 1993. Laceweb enablers have worked closely with Focal people
from all parts of the Region in evolving this Plan and the associated
Micro-proposal. They are pervasively keeping to the processes local people
are asking for. Uncompromising funding support can see the self-help healing
networks that are an evolving colourful and magnificent field of activity,
further blossom. The above organic process is resonant with the Focal people's
healing ways and with the Laceweb enablers' desire firstly, to use
mutual-help and self-help' processes, and secondly, to stay clear of a kind
of pseudo-help that disempowers and leaves control of process and content to
outside 'experts'. This Plan and the Micro-proposal may well form a model
for wider support by Government and NGO's. The possibility is that the further evolving of these
healing networks will not only help bring healing to oppressed and war
ravaged people, it may well be a major process for confidence building
towards consolidating a caring peace. Providing support
Perhaps you may want to support this project and the
related Micro-Action and be part of an extra-ordinary healing Odyssey. |
