Resilience and Torture

Through one of our partner organisations, our entire network was invited to a workshop on torture and resilience for peopel working with children, organised by the American Embassy. The Center for Victims of Torture facilitated it, an NGO based in the US and strongly outspoken against the possible American use of torture.

They worked in countries like RD, Sierra Leone, and our facilitator, a psychologist named David, had accompanied child soldiers there. Quite fascinating stories, and he used dance as a therapeutic tool, with moves that express feelings and emotions. We did an exercise on role play, in which a child that has lived through a traumatising experience can express itself and try to deal with it. You pick a theme, eg, violence, or trust or betrayal, and ask them in groups of four or five to work around it. A volunteer from the children is asked to share a story with the others around this topic. He then picks somebody to play his role and directs the others, restaging the entire event, but now from the point of view of somebody who is in control. It can dramatically change his prespective or outlook, as well as for the others, being put into these situations (often very recognisable) can be confronting and provoke useful debates and sharing. Imagine doing a play around bullying, and a bully being put in the shoes of the bullied... Most of the groups we did it with invented a story though, made it more like theater than as a therapeutic tool. Even our group started out like that, and though it allows to discuss themes and visions, it does not have the same impact as personal memories or traumas. But then of course, with people you just met in a workshop, it is hard to share personal memories and stories like that...

So, though I am sure the others from my group had a lot more stories than they wanted to share with us, I eventually volunteered to try and do it with my small trauma of getting attacked in Jo'burg, what is now already 8 years ago. I didn't even realize at the time I had been traumatised, but having gone back to the place just last year, the strong emotions etc made me realize it was. And actually, that has been quite helpful in order to better understand and grasp therapies or counselling tools, just imaging working with those tools around that (ridiculously small) personal trauma. And here again, it changed my perspective: it seemed I just couldn't get it right, I kept asking them to change this or that, the agressor to be more threatening, the bystanders more guilty as they just watched, the police man less friendly. I wanted it to ressemble it the situation completely, and it all came flooding back. Not in a bad way, or as flashbacks, but still. So it was useful as how to talk and share this kind of memories...

Can't say I felt healed or had the impression of getting closure though. Maybe lack of time, or lack of aftertalk, or maybe it just isn't a wonder tool for me either...