Laceweb - Trauma Healing Program

Workshops Manual

Energising possibilities for evolving trauma healers
and voluntary self help trauma healing networks
among Indigenous and Disadvantaged Minorities
in the SE Asia Oceania Australasia Region

Written June 1995. Updated April 2014.

Feedback & Email

The wisdom in this page has been drawn from the grassroots people of the East Asia Oceania Australasia Region. Consistent with their way, this wisdom is freely available on the Laceweb Internet site. Now a simple secure process has been set up, so people reading and downloading this wisdom may contribute financially if they so desire. You may send a tiny amount or as much as you desire.

SE Asia, Oceania, Australasia Trauma Context

Many tens of thousands of indigenous and small minority people suffer the continuing trauma of torture and trauma inflicted during conflicts and man-made disasters in the region. East Timor and Bougainville are two examples of traumatised populations.

This program has the substantial aim of energising healing processes that may lead to the healing of this massive and continuing human tragedy. The program is based upon tapping the voluntary energy of local nurturers and healers, most of whom are also traumatised, and enabling them to expand their healing repertoire in culturally appropriate ways.

The sheer size of the problem and a yearning to use local way has lead to this Program being centred on using/evolving informal networks of local self help healers.

Cultural Appropriateness:

This Workshop series has been expressly prepared to embody the following features.

Enabling:

culturally appropriate workshops
actual trauma healing during workshops
the passing on of healing ways
locals to culturally adapt healing ways
voluntary self help networks within and between communities
therapeutic community during the workshop series and beyond

Laceweb background

The Laceweb is an informal healing network of indigenous, small minority and intercultural people evolving in the Oceania, SE Asia, Australasia region for over 30 years. The Laceweb pioneered therapeutic community in the region over forty years ago (refer the Internet ).

Acknowledgement

This Laceweb document and Laceweb facilitator(s) draw upon streams of wisdom of indigenous and small minority people in the region passed along Laceweb networks.

Sequencing

The workshop sequencing typically 'unfolds' in an open agenda that is evolved by the local people to best meet their needs. For example, in some contexts, people are fully aware of their issues and needs and desire to move directly into experiencing some of the healing ways in workshops six and seven.

Proviso

The approaches outlined in this Workshop series, when applied by qualified, skilled, experienced enablers are extremely powerful. However, if these processes are attempted to be facilitated by unqualified, unskilled and inexperienced facilitators, not only could they be completely ineffectual, they could result in people being disillusioned. Skilled local facilitators may be evolved during workshop facilitation by Laceweb enablers.

Time:

The program appears as 14 experiential modules (workshops). While written as a seven day program, the timing of the program delivery is very flexible and may be changed to fit local contexts. Some groups may want to extend the time and vary the sequencing. For example workshops may be extended to 10 and 14 day sharing gatherings.

Pre-requisites to being a Participant:

People:

who are natural nurturers and typically 'wounded healers', and
are of any age and sex, and
who are, or have been, and are likely to be, involved in self-healing of self and others,
and do this healing naturally in their social lifeworld, and
are sought out by others to give nurturing support.

Aim:

This Workshop series is focusing on an extremely sensitive area where the aim is healing in the very process of passing on healing ways. It involves co-learning between participants, and between participants and facilitator(s), in workshops enabled by facilitators.

The workshop series meta-aim is 'meeting the healing needs and wants of local people'. While a wide range of potential content has been built into the program, workshops unfold in open agenda so that local people may take from it and adapt it according to local need, rather than facilitators imposing their specific agenda.

What will happen is that local people may use and adapt some or all aspects of the Workshop series and may explore and adapt the healing ways they want, at their pace.

The Laceweb has more than a 30 year record of passing on these healing ways. The healing and psycho-social processes being explored are powerful. Given this, the aims of the series and each Workshop are expressed in tentative terms to recognise that nothing will happen unless local people want it to happen.

Aim - By the end of the Workshop series, participants may be able to:

use trauma healing ways on self and others
develop and share culturally appropriate healing ways relating to torture and trauma healing, and
support survivors of torture and trauma by evolving and sustaining self help healing networks and therapeutic communities

WORKSHOPS LIST

The Aim may be achieved by participants attending the following 14 workshops:

Establishing Ambience and Contexts

1. Opening Ceremony and Storytelling

2. Introduction to Torture and Trauma Healing and Support

3. Issues in Supporting Survivors of Torture and Trauma

4. Application/Reflection as Healers/Survivors of Torture and Trauma During the Crisis

Receiving the Core of the Healing Ways

5. Healing Processes

6. Experiencing Sharing and Receiving Healing Ways

7. Experiencing, Sharing, Receiving and Adapting Healing Ways

Applying these Ways for Healing Specific Issues

8. Using Healing Ways to Resolve Specific Issues

9. Specific Application of Micro-skills to Women's Issues

10. Specific Application of Micro-skills to Children and Adolescents

11. Getting a Good Night's Sleep

Resolving Issues and Consolidating Possibilities for Action

12. Open Agenda Workshop Addressing Outstanding Issues

13. Issues for Facilitators and Enablers in Evolving Healing Networks

14. Evolving Healing and Support for Torture and Trauma Survivors - Summarising, Review and Action

Context:

This Workshop series draws upon the healing power of therapeutic community. Ideally, the series is experienced in campout sharing gatherings where facilitators and participants jointly enable the constituting of therapeutic community while living closely together for a short time.

Program Adaptability:

In the future, participants who have already experienced the program may repeat the program one or more times and experience a new set of healing ways each time. Such repeat participants may be included along- side participants who are 'first-timers'.

Number of Participants:

Laceweb facilitators are experienced in working with both small groups as well as large groups (up to 200). It is envisioned that early workshops series may be small (may 10 or even up to 30) with 2 - 3 facilitators.

It is possible that in some healing sharing gatherings in the future it may well be that there may be many hundreds attending with concurrent workshops on offer.

Workshop 1 Opening Ceremony and Storytelling

Objective:

By the end of the Workshop, participants may have established comfort and rapport with the facilitators and each other, and may have resonance with the roles of:

trauma and torture healer and supporter, and
enabler/evolver of self help healing networks and therapeutic community.

Time:

Half day or longer

Process

A ceremony culturally appropriate for supporting local people and introducing the healing ambience of Torture and Trauma Healing.

Storytelling of healing and nurturing in big and small groups - Healing and Support for Torture and Trauma Survivors.

Activities:

Any matters that any participant wants revisited are posted on butcher paper.

Handouts:

Simple dot-point/diagram/picture handouts in respect of each theme from material generated throughout the group sharing and from prior Workshop series.

Back to Workshop List

Workshop 2 Introduction to Torture and Trauma Healing and Support

Objective

By the end of the Workshop, participants may have:

further established comfort and rapport with the facilitators and each other,
further resonance with the roles of 'trauma and torture healer and supporter', and 'enabler/evolver of self help healing networks and therapeutic community', and
a clearer understanding of some of the local healing issues.

Time:

Half day or longer

Materials:

Materials from prior workshop

Activities:

Facilitators introduce a series of structured experiences and sharings; themes:

Establishing rapport
Gaining acceptance of the healing support role
Identifying specific issues to be resolved, including:

'Being safe' and 'exploitation of sexual identity'
Resolving anger and violent behaviour
Resolving the effects of psycho-social, physical and sexual abuse - feeling safe again
Healing grief, shame and loss
Letting go 'war zone' mentality - feeling safe again

Identifying and using existing:

culturally appropriate healing ways
psycho-social resources
individual, family and community healing processes

Healing play, games, fantasy and fun
Enabling well-being resources
Empowering well-being
Enabling the building of therapeutic community; developing resources; forming support coalitions and fostering self help support networks and friendship

Additional activities:

Any matters that any participant wants revisited are posted on butcher paper.

Handouts:

Simple dot-point/diagram/picture handouts in respect of each theme from material generated throughout the group sharing and from prior Workshop series.

Additional resources:

The following Videos may be used as appropriate to context:

Eye of the Needle - Torture - a global phenomena
My father's Daughter - The story of Mai - Personal experience
The Two Deaths of Raul Pacheco - Latin American family experience
The Survivor - The Story of Zalmai - Middle East experience

Back to Workshop List

Workshop 3. Issues in Supporting Survivors of Torture and Trauma

Objective:

By the end of the Workshop, participants may be able to identify and explore the specific issues and needs for healing and supporting Bougainville survivors of torture and trauma and explore frameworks for resolving the issues and satisfying the needs.

Time:

Half day or longer

Materials:

Materials from prior workshops.

Activities:

Materials from prior workshops are used to expand on trauma healing issues:

issues in setting up culturally appropriate support for torture and trauma survivors;
models of evolving culturally appropriate self help healing networks among torture and trauma survivors;
combining community development and self help healing approaches;
supporting refugee and displaced communities;
strategies for developing self help healing networks among torture and trauma survivors.

Workshop facilitator(s) and all attendees are supported to share examples of the above issues in small groups and big group. Healing contexts may emerge using:

brainstorming
consensual explorings
small group discussion
making large murals, maps, drawings and other representations
other cultural expressions – e.g. story, song and dance

as a means of expressing concerns and options with extensive use of flip charts and output placed where all can see.

Any matters that any participant wants revisited are posted on butcher paper.

Handouts:

Simple dot-point/diagram/picture handouts in respect of each theme from material generated throughout the group sharing and from prior Workshop series and from prior Workshop series.

Back to Workshop List

Workshop 4. Application/Reflection as Healers/Survivors of Torture and Trauma During the Crisis

Objective:

By the end of the Workshop, participants may be able:

to understand matters relating to being a torture/trauma healer and supporter
to set up contexts for interchange of culturally appropriate understandings about ways of enabling healing and support
have explored the effects of torture and trauma upon families, females, children, adolescents, males and combatants as entry points for providing healing, nurturing, support, care and understanding.

Time

Half day or longer

Material:

Murals, flip charts, drawings, diagrams and other handouts from prior Workshops.

Sequence of Activities:

Workshop facilitator(s) and all attendees contributing in sharing discussion and examples, and by experiencing healing ways, exploring the following themes:

Enabling the gifts of intercultural healing
The loving nurturer
Understanding the effects of exposure to torture and trauma in the context of civil strife and the refugee experience
Effects on the children and adolescents
Effects on the women
Effects on the family
Effects on the men
Effects on the children, family and friends of torture and trauma sufferers
Effects on the combatants
Rehabilitating, healing and reconciling of torture and trauma survivors in the local, national and global context

Additional activities:

Key aspects are posted on butcher paper and murals; posted material used as a resource for generating handouts.

Any matters that any participant wants revisited are posted on butcher paper.

Handouts:

Simple dot-point/diagram/picture handouts in respect of each theme from material generated throughout the group sharing and from prior Workshop series and from prior Workshop series.

Back to Workshop List

Workshop 5. Healing Processes

Objective:

By the end of the Workshop, participants may able be to identify and understand:

some universal as well as culturally specific healing processes,
principles as guides to action, as well as models and contexts for entering into a healing relationship
some ways of resolving issues relating to enabling healing

Time:

Half day or longer

Materials:

All materials used and generated in previous workshops.

Activities:

The following themes may be discussed, explored and models demonstrated by the facilitator(s) and participants engaging in discussions and structured experiences in small and big groups.

This may be a practical experiential Workshop where participants may experience different models of healing. Participants may experience using healing ways on self and others under the guidance of the facilitator(s)and share feedback with each other and the facilitator(s) on their outcomes.

Themes explored may be:

Principals of Healing
Healing Models
Gain and loss in the context of safety and danger
Models of intervening - interrupting dysfunction
Mediation Therapy and Mediation Counselling
Individual care support and nurturing
Group Approaches
Community therapy
Family Community Therapy
Crisis intervening and debriefing
Evolving local-lateral healing networks
Healing communities in the context of community development

Further Themes:

Transferring and Projecting: Clearing misunderstanding transferred from the past, and projected on to the other side.
Anti-burnout strategies, debriefing and self-healing
Enabling and supporting healers, nurturers and carers who are supporting survivors of torture/trauma
Enabling ethics law - the law of sisterly/brotherly love, expressing the caring Integrity of communities - homo sapiens amans

Additional activities

Brief descriptions of healing processes and other matters may be posted on butcher paper and used to generate session hand-outs.
Any matters that any participant wants revisited are posted on butcher paper

Handouts:

Simple dot-point/diagram/picture handouts from material generated throughout the group sharing and from prior Workshop series.

Back to Workshop List

Workshop 6. Experiencing, Sharing and Receiving Healing Ways

Objective:

By the end of the Workshop, participants may be able to provide a rich context with possibilities for exploring, understanding and acquiring healing ways and processes, as well as understanding when to use them in appropriate contexts.

Time:

Half day or longer

Note:

Typically this Workshop (6) and the following Workshop (7) may involve more than half a day. They are central for the sharing of healing ways. They may involve follow-up sessions among the participants with or without the facilitator(s), as participants further refine their healing ways. Workshop's 6 and 7 may provide a process-model for local sharing healing celebratory gatherings.

Materials:

All materials used and generated in prior Workshops.

Activities:

This particular session involves all participants in experiencing using healing ways.

Facilitator(s) introduce micro-experiences, and participants may experience using these micro-experiences on themselves and each other. The group may work individually, in pairs (with and without a third person in the observer role) as well as in small groups. Periodically participants will give and receive feedback and share discussion.

There are a rich source of healing ways associated with the following material - far more than may be explored in one, or even two or three Workshops. Facilitator(s) may briefly share the healing ways with participants. Participants may select what they want from all the ways available.

The micro-experiences

Rapport Building - being at one, moving together. A wide range of verbal and non-verbal rapport building processes may be explored.
Gathering information, monitoring and precision questioning - Using simple language models and other forms of expression that may enable helpers to gently and caringly assist others to express themselves.
Accurate clues reading: survivors/disputants and their body language. May enable helpers to notice discrepancies between verbal and non-verbal behaviors as well as other unspoken indicators as an aid to resolving issues.
Language meta-model. Big and small chunks, May enable helpers to use simple, graceful, caring and healing language to foster healing.
Assessing internal states - strategic and sorting patterns, and external relationships. May enable helpers to identify and use the unique aspects of how a person behaves and experiences life and makes internal representations of this experience - for enabling possibilities for healing.
Well-formed outcomes in healing, mediation therapy and problem solving. May enable helpers to maintain a nurturing outcomes focus.
Anchoring - Few or one-trial re/learning. This is an easy to learn process that may have wide applicability in healing. It may enable people to expand flexibility and choice in their emotions, internal experience and personal resourcefulness towards well-being.
Creative vagueness. This healing micro-experience process may enable the other person to bypass aspects of self that may hold back healing.
Reframing/deframing - finding constructive meanings, resolving internal and external conflicts, seeing trouble in a better light. We all make our own representations of our experience, sometimes in ways that may prolong pain and suffering. 'Deframing' may free up fixed ways of experiencing the world. 'Reframing' may allow survivors to place past and present experience within more helpful and healing frameworks.
Sensory submodalities - change patterns. We all use our various senses in special ways to make sense of our lives. An extensive set of very simple processes may be explored that may allow people to make profound and lasting changes in their lives and how they respond to past events.
Dissociation - separating memories from bad or violent feelings. Simple processes may be introduced that may allow people to break the previous inevitable link between recall of trauma and the re-experiencing of the associated pain. These healing micro-experiences may reintroduce flexibility and choice into lives; they may prepare participants for a possible subsequent micro-experience set relating to emotional choice.
Accessing and re-accessing psycho-social resource states. We all have a differing set of psycho-social resources states such as joy, calmness, tranquillity, engrossment and energy. Often people may have a range of resource states that they may have not linked into for many years. A set of micro-experiences may be explored that may enable others to tap into their resource states, enhance them, and to build new ones.
Creating healing futures. People vary in the way they use their senses to make representations of possible futures. Some people may have no processes for making representations of the future. It may be that they literally can't see a future for themselves. Others may only see bleak futures. Micro-experiences may be explored that may allow people to build internal representations of healing futures that may sustain and enrich.
Changing personal history, re-imprinting, creating hopeful futures; evolving well-being perspectives on previous painful or angry attitudes. People make representations or 'maps' of their experience and use their senses in specific ways to 'file' experience. Experience has demonstrated that helping people explore and change how they use their brain and senses may have profound healing value.
Altering emotional states. A set of processes may be explored that may allow people to readily enter and leave any emotional state at will, towards having emotional flexibility and choice.
Altering energy states. People often have profoundly 'shut down', 'constricted' or 'dispersed - scattered' energy patterns that limit wellbeing. A set of processes allowing people to readily enter and leave any energy state at will.
Accessing states and chaining - resourceful habits and good moods; dramatic pattern-interrupt. Life scenes. This is a set of micro-experiences that may allow some of the micro-experiences to be used together to obtain healing outcomes.
Mediating Metaphor - storytelling, performance and image writing as parables for healthy tolerance and cooperative living. Throughout time, stories and other forms of metaphor have been used for promoting healing change. A set of specific micro-experiences may be explored for creating simple, though powerful, healing metaphors.
Caring and sharing - home, street and rural mediation therapy/counselling. An extensive set of micro-experiences and processes may be explored that foster relationship building and healing happening between people in conflict, within a mediation therapy frame.
Conversational change. This set of micro-experiences may allow healing action to take place 'on the run' as it were, as one goes about relating with other people in day to day contexts.
Context healing, street mediation and group story performance. Draws on indigenous healing process, corroboree, therapeutic communities, dance movement and Keyline organic farming concepts and processes. Uses natural and evolving contexts as healing possibilities. Embraces mediation therapy/counselling for strengthening healing, relationship and community.
Ebb and flow - Processes drawing from nature allowing people sensitivity as to when to gently introducing healing possibilities and when to senitively withdraw.
Mapping Across - freeing up limiting beliefs and attitudes. A set of processes and micro-experiences may be explored that may allow people to free up limiting beliefs and attitudes towards more flexibility and choice.
Increasing flexibility and choice relating to use of bad or rigid habits. Releasing over-dependence and blocked emotion. These are a set of micro-experiences and processes that may be simple to use and profound in effect. They involve using language and sensory experience in specific ways that may loosen up recurrent unpleasant body sensations such as chest and throat constriction, churning stomachs as well as possibly stop compulsive, obsessive and phobic behaviors.
Self-Mediating micro-experiences for criticism and argument. The friendly voice. This set of micro-experiences and processes again uses shifts in the particular way people use words and their senses to make sense of the world.
Healing Movement and Somatic Processes. Many body approaches to change are available that involve becoming aware of how we move and tense our bodies. Healing Movement process involves very simple movement with awareness of the movement. These simple processes may allow possibilities for graceful and elegant movement towards sustainable well-being.
Outdoor Action play. Individual and group experiences, processes, initiatives and rituals for possibilities that may build trust in self and others, and possibly build co-operation, community enrichment, self resourcefulness, self reliance, group support and which may improve dispute solving.
Intercultural and inter-ethnic consensus; respect for cultural diversity, negotiation of meaning, joint authority, the principles of humanitarian (caring) law. Processes and micro-experiences for establishing possibilities for healing relating between differing cultures and ethnic groupings.
Developing ethnic and cultural self esteem - resolving shame and guilt. Many of the above micro-experiences may be used in possibly resolving these issues.
The Australian Blis-symbols system; the blissful picture writing view - re-viewing and imaging. Uses processes adapted from Aboriginal bark and sand painting and drawing, iconic images, healing artistry and the Australian Blis-symbols system.
Cultural healing Action. Processes drawing on influences from Vanuatu and other Pacific Island peoples. People may be involved in drama, music, creative writing, dance, visual arts, theatre and group dynamics as a way of healing and a way of resolving matters. Cultural healing action 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.
Mood that attunes. Processes for setting up individual, group and community moods resonant with therapeutic community and healing wellbeing.

Additional Activities:

Brief descriptions of healing processes may be posted on butcher paper and used to generate session hand-outs.
Any issues or topics that participants want revisited or discussed are posted on butcher paper

Handouts

Simple dot-point/diagram/picture handouts from material generated throughout the group sharing and from prior Workshop series.

Back to Workshop List

Workshop 7. Experiencing, Sharing, Receiving and Adapting Healing Ways

Objective:

By the end of the workshop, participants may have furthered their experience of using the healing ways on themselves and others, and may have culturally adapted the healing ways to address specific local issues in supporting survivors of torture and trauma.

Time:

Half day or longer.

Note:

Typically this Workshop (7) and the previous Workshop may involve more than half a day. They are central for the sharing of healing ways. They may involve follow-up sessions among the participants with or without the facilitator(s), as participants further refine their healing ways. Workshop's 6 and 7 may provide a process-model for local sharing healing celebratory gatherings

Materials:

All materials used and generated in previous workshops.

Activities:

Facilitator(s) introduce further micro-experiences, and participants experience using these micro-experiences on themselves and each other. The group works individually, in pairs (with and without a third person in the observer role) as well as in small groups.
Participants culturally adapt healing ways and use them to address specific local issues.
Periodically, participants give and receive feedback and share discussion in small groups, larger groups and with all participants.
Brief outlines of healing ways and outcomes may be posted on butcher paper and murals. This material may be used to generate handouts for all participants.
Any matters that any participant wants revisited are posted on butcher paper.

Processes:

Activity and process in large and small groups:

modelling and experiencing somatic responses
modelling micro-experiences
personal behaviour and sensory experience of change work
experiential real-play in dyads, triads and small groups
mentoring
mentor feedback
having participants in process-observing roles
personal and observer feedback
large and small group processes as appropriate to the unfolding context, including brainstorming and large and small group (i) discussion and (ii) being audience to other's change-work
structured and unstructured experience with process observers
nanotherapy - where meticulous attention is given to micro detail and aspects
working with participants prone to anger and violence, and other dysfunction
micro case studies from the local context
providing feedback to plenary session
consensual explorings and evaluation of outcomes
jointly making large murals for various purposes
maps and drawings and other cultural representations as a means of expressing concerns, options, actions and outcomes
extensive use of flip charts, and output placed on walls for all to see

Handouts:

Simple dot-point/diagram/picture handouts from material generated throughout the group sharing and from prior Workshop series.

Back to Workshop List

Workshop 8. Using Healing Ways to Resolve Specific Issues

Objective

By the end of the workshop participants may be becoming experienced in using a number of healing ways in resolving specific issues:

Interrupting, stopping and preventing fear, anger, payback, aggression and violence in self and others
Working through grief for adults, adolescents and children
Resolving the effects of psycho-social, physical and sexual abuse

Time:

Half day or longer.

Materials:

Materials used and generated in preceding workshops.

Activities:

A continuation from Workshop 7 - focusing on applying healing ways in resolving specific issues. Themes:

The roots of violence - the psycho-physiology of anger, fear and violence
Exploring issues and processes for interrupting and stopping anger and violence and resolving the issues that flow from them
Using healing mediation therapy to resolve anger, fear, payback and other violence
Body approaches in resolving anger
Resolving anger and violent behaviour in and within families, groups and communities
Healing the suffering from torture and trauma
Working through grief for adults, adolescents and children
Resolving the effects of psycho-social, physical and sexual abuse in children, adolescents and adults, - feeling safe again
Artistic expression for diagnosis and healing
Cultural healing artistry
Sensory submodalities - change patterns
Re/empowering identity; Re/creating hope

Healing blocked Love through Forgiveness of Self and Others:

Draws on healing ways from Workshop Seven to unblock Love and have Love's bounty enriching every aspect of holistic wellbeing

Building functional beliefs about forgiveness
Exploring unconditional Love
Exploring consequences of blocked Love
Understanding the nature of the forgiveness process
Values - weighing up our deep and superficial values
Benefits of doing it versus not doing it
Choice - our willing to realise the goal to forgive
Acknowledging and validating our painful feelings and deciding to heal them and moving on
Discovering all the negative beliefs that formed at times of pain and recognising how they produce negative results now
Creating our preferences - actions restoring wellbeing
Discovering the values underlying our preferences - clarifying, reframing and strengthening values leading to more self respect and dignity
Accepting past history - choosing to respond differently now
Forgiveness - cancellation of our demand that our conditions be fulfilled before love is allowed to flow (an act of will which may open up more our connecting with holistic wellbeing)
Self healing meditating - bring loving life energy through all parts of our mindbody - our personality, our body, our emotions and memories, our mind and belief systems, our spirituality
Healing the patterns of relationship - carer - flowing love to the other - as a baby....as a child....as a teenager....as an adult.....up to the present...and beyond. Restoring goodwill and unconditional love.
Changing patterns at sensory submodality levels
Grounding the 'I will do to.....' statement
The goodwill patterns reminder
Future pacing - creating futures - loving behaviour in thought, action and experience
Checking ecology - is it complete?
Maintaining - 'I will to....' sets the pattern for Love
The future me and us

Processes:

As for Workshop 7

Additional Activities:

Brief outlines of healing ways and outcomes may be posted on butcher paper and murals. This material may be used to generate handouts for all participants.
Any matters that any participant wants revisited are posted on butcher paper.

Handouts:

Simple dot-point/diagram/picture handouts from material generated throughout the group sharing and from prior Workshop series.

Back to Workshop List

Workshop 9. Specific Application of Micro-skills to Women's Issues

Objective:

By the end of the workshop participants may be becoming experienced in using a number of healing ways in resolving issues especially relevant for women, young women and girls.

Time:

Half day or longer.

Materials:

Materials used and generated in preceding workshops.

Activities:

This workshop focuses on using healing ways to address issues specific to women, young women and girls - themes:

supporting women in identifying specific issues to be resolved, including being safe and exploitation of sexual identity
establishing rapport
gaining acceptance of the healing and support role
using healing micro-experiences
resolving the effects of psycho-social, physical and sexual abuse - feeling safe again
identifying and using a female's existing psycho-social resources
empowering well-being
enabling building women's community; developing resources; forming coalitions and fostering support networks and friendships.

Processes:

As for Workshop 7.

Additional activities:

Brief outlines of healing ways and outcomes may be posted on butcher paper and murals. This material may be used to generate handouts for all participants.
Any matters that any participant wants revisited are posted on butcher paper.

Handouts:

Simple dot-point/diagram/picture handouts from material generated throughout the group sharing and from prior Workshop series.

Back to Workshop List

Workshop 10. Specific Application of Micro-skills to Children and Adolescents

Objective:

By the end of the workshop participants may be becoming experienced in using a number of healing ways in resolving issues especially relevant for children and adolescents, and families containing children and adolescents.

Time:

Half day or longer.

Materials:

Materials used and generated in preceding workshops.

Activities:

In this workshop, the participants explore ways to resolve and heal childhood trauma and associated issues. Examples:

the relative powerlessness of childhood
potential fragmentation of already fragile value and normative frameworks
profound confusion, meaninglessness, normlessness and anomie
physical, emotional and psycho-social pain resulting from episodes of harm
the possible and actual dislocation from loved ones
the inability to control or understand any of the decisions being made, or events unfolding
dysfunctional beliefs, e.g., children may believe that they must have done something really bad to deserve such punishment
dysfunctional behaviours - engaging in acting-out behaviours

Themes:

Identifying specific issues to be resolved
Establishing rapport with the child and significant others
Gaining acceptance of the healing support role from the child and significant others
Identifying specific issues to be resolved
Resolving anger and violent behaviour in children
Resolving the effects of psycho-social, physical and sexual abuse - feeling safe again
Identifying and using the child's existing psycho-social resources
Healing grief, shame and loss
Letting go 'war zone' mentality - feeling safe again
Using individual, family and community healing processes
Healing play, games, fantasy and fun
Enabling well-being resources
Establishing and clarifying purpose, values and meaning
Empowering well-being

Additional activities:

Brief summaries of healing ways may be posted on butcher paper and murals and this content used to generate handouts.
Any matters that any participant wants revisited are posted on butcher paper.

Handouts:

Simple dot-point/diagram/picture handouts from material generated throughout the group sharing and from prior Workshop series.

Back to Workshop List

Workshop 11. Getting a Good Night's Sleep

Objective:

By the end of the Workshop, participants may be able to understand and explore the range of sleep disorders and related issues of torture and trauma survivors; exploring, experiencing and using an extensive range of processes and skills to resolve these issues.

Time:

Half day or longer.

Materials:

Materials used and generated in preceding workshops.

Activities:

Facilitator(s) to explore each of the following themes and introduce healing ways to the participants:

Difficulty in getting to sleep
Nightmares
Night panic attacks
Fear of the dark
Frequent need to urinate
Bedwetting
Disturbed sleep
Racing thoughts
Massive body tension
Waking early in the morning
Continual sleeping
Tired, exhausted but wide awake
Breathing difficulties interrupting sleeping

A set of micro-experiences/processes for resolving the above issues.

Processes:

As per Workshop 7

Additional activities:

Any matters that any participant wants revisited are posted on butcher paper.
Brief summaries of healing ways may be posted on butcher paper and murals and this content used to generate handouts.

Handouts:

Simple dot-point/diagram/picture handouts from material generated throughout the group sharing and from prior Workshop series.

Back to Workshop List

Workshop 12. Open Agenda Workshop Addressing Outstanding Issues

Objective:

To address outstanding issues from the preceding Workshops.

Time:

Half day or longer.

Materials:

All materials used and generated in the preceding workshops may be used for this workshop. The participants may explore any of the issues or topics that they want to revisit or discuss including those which have been posted on butcher paper during previous workshops.

Activities:

Participants have the opportunity to:

share,
comment on ,
demonstrate,
seek clarification on,
try out,
brainstorm,
experience,
plan, and
explore

anything that has emerged during the previous Workshops and intervening periods.

Additional activities:

Any matters that any participant wants revisited are posted on butcher paper.
Brief summaries of healing ways may be posted on butcher paper and murals and this content used to generate handouts.

Handouts:

Simple dot-point/diagram/picture handouts from material generated throughout the group sharing and from prior Workshop series.

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Workshop 13. Issues for Facilitators and Enablers in Evolving Healing Networks

Objective:

By the end of the Workshop, participants may be able to identify and explore the specific issues and needs for, and may have commenced action on evolving and sustaining healing networks supporting survivors of torture and trauma on Bougainville.

Time:

Half day or longer.

Materials:

Butcher paper to list what needs to be done and who is taking action for certain projects
Materials used and generated in preceding workshops may also be used.

Activities:

Facilitator(s) or one or more participants within small groups may lead discussion on the following themes:
issues in setting up culturally appropriate support for torture and trauma survivors; models of evolving culturally appropriate self help healing networks among torture and trauma survivors;
combining community development and self help healing approaches;
supporting refugee and displaced communities;
strategies for developing healing networks among torture and trauma survivors.

Processes:

Workshop separate out into small groups
Brainstorming
Reframing nominalisations into process form
Identifying and reframing constraints identifying decision variables
Allocate a topic to each group with butcher paper so they may write up discussion points
Each group reports back to the big group
Participants explore comments by each group
Evolving Action plans

Additional activities:

Any matters that any participant wants revisited are posted on butcher paper.
Brief summaries of healing ways may be posted on butcher paper and murals and this content used to generate handouts.

Handouts

Simple dot-point/diagram/picture handouts from material generated throughout the group sharing and from prior Workshop series.

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Workshop 14. Evolving Healing and Support for Torture and Trauma Survivors - Summarising, Review and Action

Objective:

By the end of the Workshop, the participants (i) may be able to assist in evolving culturally appropriate self help healing networks, (ii) may be able to use a range of healing ways in supporting survivors of torture and trauma and (iii) may have taken the first steps in evolving and sustaining self help healing networks.

Materials:

All materials used and generated during preceding workshops.

Time:

Half day or longer.

Activities:

Facilitator(s) and or participants may briefly summarise each Workshop.
Participants may demonstrate healing ways:

interrupting anger and violence
reintegrating combatants
women and young female issues
family issues

Participants may engage in action planning of next steps in evolving self help healing networks:

brainstorming:

names of natural nurturers
local healing ways
culturally appropriate processes in evolving self help healing networks
specific high priority issues requiring immediate action

arranging small local celebratory sharing gatherings to continue the co-learnings
making commitments and action to maintain evolve and sustain the healing networks

Closing ceremony

Additional activities:

Brief summaries of healing ways and action may be posted on butcher paper and murals and this content used to generate handouts.

Handouts:

Simple dot-point/diagram/picture handouts from material generated throughout the group sharing and from prior Workshop series.

Providing support

Perhaps you may want to support this project and the related Micro-Action and be part of an extra-ordinary healing Odyssey.

Donating

Refer donating process at top of this page.

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