Trauma Counseling Project for Tsunami Disaster Areas
- Practical Training for Teachers in Sri Lanka and Aceh -
Yoshiki Tominaga
( Hyogo University of Teacher Education)
e-mail hotanshin@hotmail.com
• A trauma counseling project for children and teachers in tsunami disaster areas
Education International, an international teachers association, and the Japan Teachers Union designed this Trauma Counseling Project for the mental care of children in areas of Sri Lanka and Aceh (Indonesia) struck by the tsunami of December 26, 2004. It was administered by EARTH (Emergency And Rescue Team of Hyogo school staff). I participated in the project as a lecturer.
• About EARTH
EARTH, a group of 90 teachers and five clinical psychologists, was formed in January 2000 as a step toward repaying the kindness of the numerous volunteers from throughout Japan who came to Hyogo in the wake of the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. EARTH has provided disaster assistance in Japan after an earthquake in western Tottori, an eruption of Mt. Uzu , an earthquake offshore from Miyazaki , and an earthquake in Niigata .
• Team members and schedule
The project team consisted of Norio Fukuoka, head of the international section of the Japan Teachers Union, with two teachers and two clinical psychologists from EARTH. Hideyuki Kanda, a teacher with long experience as director of educational recovery at a primary school, was the lead team member for children's mental care. The other teacher was Seiji Suwa, an English teacher who serves as a disaster mitigation educator at the only secondary school in Japan with an environmental disaster curriculum, the Maiko Prefectural High School in Hyogo. The clinical psychologists were Tetsu Takahashi, a school counselor advisor for Hyogo Prefecture , and myself. All five team members were men.
The project was carried out in Sri Lanka from June 20- 24, 2005 , and in Aceh from July 23 - 27, 2005 .
• The training project
Each trauma counseling training was held for 30 teachers over a 12-day period. The training was held from 9 to 6 each day. EARTH presented the first five days, and the remaining seven days were presented by local psychiatrists and clinical psychologists. Afterward, the trained teachers presented a further training for 200 local teachers.
• Training program presented by EARTH
The training program presented by EARTH covered basic trauma theory, self-counseling for trauma, stress management, screening tests, trauma counseling, case studies, disaster mitigation education, expressive work using drawing, and a review of the Great Hanshin Earthquake from 10 years on.
Child Trauma Reaction Checklist by Class Room Teacher (Teacher answers)
Mind and Body Checklist （a child answers.)/When Disaster Strikes(psycho-education)/ Stress Coping Checklist/ Child Stress Checklist （a fosterer or a teacher answers.)
Stress and Coping after a Disaster (pdf)
Hippos' feeling (Psychological education for child)
• Nature of mental care
There are three notable trends in mental care worldwide:
(1) Psychological education about stress and trauma
(2) Recommended methods for coping with stress and trauma
(3) Trusting relationships ? person-to-person bonds
Psychological education about stress and trauma includes descriptions of the mental and physical changes that can occur after a stressful event, and the idea that such "abnormal conditions" are actually normal reactions.
Proven methods for coping with the experience of a life-threatening event and getting over it are presented.
The most important thing for supporting awareness and coping is personal relationships, such as between teacher and student, counselor and teacher, counselor and child, and mental care provider and teacher.
• Mental care and religion
As we created the program, our primary concerns were religion and culture. Sri Lanka is 70% Buddhist and 15% Hindu. Aceh is 97% Muslim. Mental care is not feasible without an awareness of the religious context.
• The teachers' cries
During the self-introductions and opening presentation, we heard the teachers' individual experiences of the tsunami. Here are some of the stories we heard in Sri Lanka and Aceh.
"The child victims of the tsunami cannot continue their lives. Nor can they do their studies. In our area there are more than 100 children whose parents were both killed. Aside from that, many of the children's homes have disappeared. Schools that were destroyed are operating as best they can in refugee camps. But the children think another tsunami might come so they can't concentrate on their studies, they are all afraid. Even the teachers are afraid. Teachers, too, lost family members and neighbors. Teachers whose houses were destroyed have so many problems that they can't concentrate on their school jobs."
"My son woke up and said, "Papa, I dreamed the world came to an end. So please let our birds out of the bird cages." Just after that there was an earthquake, then the tsunami came…. My son was killed."
"When I remember the children [killed in the tsunami], my body goes all tense and it feels like my heart will explode…"
"I thought I was going to die. Then I let go of everything I was holding on to. The next thing I knew, my body was firmly lifted up by a tree and I was saved. Dead trees were piled on top of the rooftops. As I got closer I realized they were corpses."
"My village was completely burned in the war. I held on tight to my child and ran away." "There is one secondary school student who makes a lot of trouble…. When he was in middle school, his father was shot and killed before his eyes."
Both Sri Lanka and Aceh suffered from civil war in the years before the tsunami. There are many people whose traumas have accumulated not only through the natural disaster but also the horrible experiences of war.
• What is mental care?
Fundamentally, mental care is not about other people caring for the mind and spirit of the disaster survivor, but about the survivor independently caring for his or her own wounded mind and spirit, with support from others.
• Methods for coping with stress promoted by teachers in Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka , when we asked "What kinds of things do you do when you are unable to sleep?" some teachers shared their breathing and meditation practices.
A teacher lay down in the meeting room and demonstrated the breathing method.
Another sat and meditated.
Another demonstrated a standing exercise, slowly turning to either side while singing a children's song.
Teachers in Sri Lanka practice this sort of self care on a daily basis.
• Self-counseling method used by teachers in Aceh
In the area of Aceh we visited, almost all of the teachers had experienced the tsunami, and many had lost members of their immediate families or other relatives. One woman teacher whose own children were as killed had carried on afterward in helping children left in distress by the tsunami. She said that when she was overcome by the pain of losing her child, she would straighten her back and breath vigorously, expanding her chest, as she sent the words of a prayer to Allah through her soul and her body.
• Disaster Mitigation Education
Mr. Kanda and Mr. Suwa described how disaster mitigation classes are taught in Japan , and outlined the ten years of recovery from the Great Hanshin Earthquake. Disaster mitigation education is intended to build a nation with resilience against disaster, and to provide children with courage and hope and a sense of security. The programs are designed with a view to the future a century or more from now.
• Conclusion
Disaster fills people's minds with negative thoughts, like powerlessness ("no matter how hard I try it comes to nothing"), isolation and helplessness ("I'm left all alone"), distrust ("people can't be trusted"), or guilt ("it was my fault").
The aim of mental care after a disaster is to change the focus of disaster victims from negative thoughts to positive, healthy thoughts.
Positive, healthy thoughts might be, "I'm going to be an architect and build houses that won't fall down in an earthquake," or "I want to work rescuing people," taking energy from the tragedy of the past and planning for a better life in the present in the future.
Disaster brings tragedy. Yet people have the strength to rebound and recover. And exchanging negative thoughts for positive thoughts requires knowledge about trauma and about the best methods for coping with trauma.
Disaster can also provide opportunities to improve things that were not right before the disaster struck. The tsunami seems to have brought an end to civil war. The tsunami victims are strongly encouraged by the assistance they have received from the rest of the world. The Trauma Counseling Project is helping to build disaster-resistant nations.