Healing, counseling for war trauma victims in Cotabato

KIDAPAWAN CITY — Some 54 trauma victims, most of them displaced by the ongoing fight between warring groups in Maguindanao and North Cotabato provinces, underwent healing and counseling sessions over the weekend. The trauma victims completed on Sunday a three-day training on psycho-social support and post-traumatic management at the Oblates of Mary Immaculate Shrine in Barangay Binoligan, Kidapawan City. Of the 54 participants, 20 of them were trained to become trauma counselors and facilitators, said Fr. Edgardo de Jesus of the Psycho-Trauma Clinic of the University of Santo Tomas (UST). De Jesus, one of the trainers, said most of the participants were women who experienced the traumas of wars. More than half of the participants were youths aged 14 to 22, who come from conflict-affected areas in Maguindanao and North Cotabato. The UST Psycho-Trauma Clinic teamed up with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in conducting the series of training-workshops for internally-displaced persons (IDPs) from North Cotabato and Maguindanao. “We, at the DSWD, in collaboration with other agencies, are training community women volunteers on mental health and psycho-social support in emergency setting," said Suzette Agcaoili of the DSWD central office. “What we’re doing is that for the people in the community to be aware of what they’re supposed to do especially for these children or the affected population that has encountered traumatic experiences or situations," she said. Agcaoli explained the trainees are taught to perform “psychological first aid," where a trauma counselor helps the people in the community “process an emotionally-upsetting incident. “It’s like alleviating the people that has been affected by traumatic events and situations that they would be able to come back to normalcy," she said. De Jesus said, “All of them have their own ‘wounded-ness’, because of wars but we trained them to become ‘de-briefer’ and ‘first responders’ in times of calamities, be it man-made or natural." If the trauma is not yet ‘released’, the person will likely suffer a ‘post-traumatic syndrome, a severe anxiety disorder, De Jesus explained. To become effective trauma counselor, De Jesus said one must possess empathy and compassion. “It would be easy for these trainers to become effective counselors because they can easily relate to the patients. They themselves were victims of wars," said De Jesus. One of the trainees was Manny whose father, an Army soldier, was killed in a roadside bombing along with the municipal mayor of Datu Piang in Maguindanao, on December 22, 2002. Manny’s father was the security escort of the late Datu Piang Mayor Datu Saudi Ampatuan, son of the former Maguindanao Governor Datu Andal Ampatuan, Sr. Manny said their whole family experienced trauma over their father’s death. Even though the killing took place almost eight years ago, “the pain of losing a father is still there," he said. When asked if he wanted to avenge his father’s death, he said, “I have already forgiven them." –VVP, GMANews.TV