Susana (not her real name) works for a Family Care Centre run by a faith-based organisation in Lautoka.
She has been working at this Centre for years, providing first help to affected families, particularly those from domestic violence background.
According to Susana, the Psychosocial First Aid Trainings organized by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Fiji through the support of The Asia Foundation have been really helpful, further improving the way she now conducts her work.
She attended the first π·ππππππππππππ πππππ π¨ππ (π·ππ¨) πππ π·ππ¨ π½πππππππππ ππ π«πππππππππ πππ π«πππππππ ππππππ training in 2021 which was conducted using the national training manual for ‘π·πππππππππππ πππππ π¨ππ πππ πππππ πΎππππππ ππ ππππ’ and she was fortunate enough to have been part of the PFA Training to support young people (including children) that was held last year.
βWhen we have victims of Domestic Violence coming into our Centre, I had difficulties trying to communicate with them about their situation and they usually return home without completely being βhealedβ thus they frequent the Centre,β Susana said.
βBut thanks to the trainings, Iβve learned ways to deal with them β mothers and children alike. The way we talk to them is important so that they feel safe to share their problem, opening up about their experience and allowing us to provide first help before we refer them to professionals at Empower Pacific and Medical Services Pacific.β
βIβve learned to listen without judgement. They (mothers & children) are often traumatized so no matter what, we must be positive about their situation and to encourage them to rise above it. To communicate with children, I must bring myself down to their level and we learnt about ways we can communicate better with them.β
Susana says she is now confident in her work as she has learnt how to handle victims who frequent the Family Care Center.
She is hoping that more of the similar trainings are conducted in churches and should be specifically focused on PFA for Domestic Violence victims so that leaders can fully understand how to handle members of their congregation who are often victims to domestic violence.
