Trauma trainees urged to be agents of change

National

Twenty-one participants in East New Britain (ENB) who completed an intensive crisis and trauma counselling training last week were said they were now like a candle bringing light into communities.
Deputy ENB administrator Levi Mano issued the challenge to the participants at the closing of the training in Kokopo on Friday.
“You are now the candle to bring the light out into our communities that are in darkness.”
“You need to go back into the community now and the light that has been given to you will not create full change but the effort you can put into that can see some change in the communities,” Mano said.
Mano, who is also the province’s family sexual violence action committee chairman, said a lot of children today were paying the ultimate price of being without parents and were fighting for recognition which was why they got into drugs and alcohol.
He said with mobile phones and access to information and communication technology, there was mistrust and lack of confidence among families and the community.
“So it is timely you are taught necessary skills to respond to certain situations. And the same counselling that would have been done 30 years ago is not the counselling you will do today due to complexities of situations we are in today,” Mano said. “This training is very necessary right now that you address and understand the dynamics of situations and use the right language at the right time to the right audience on issues faced.”
Mano said there were discussions to establish a male advocacy against gender-based violence.’
The two-week training was facilitated by Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and Vanuatu Women’s Centre for stakeholders of gender-based violence prevention and response.