Train Communities in Trauma Informed Care

Healing for Sexual Violence Survivors

Over the past months, Brendah, our amazing country director in Uganda, travelled to facilitate a trauma-informed care and healing workshop for teen mothers who are also sexual violence survivors, in partnership with Hope for Uganda and Suubi Teens. 

These young women have survived incredible trauma and face ongoing community stigma, along with loss of economic and social opportunities. Despite the numerous challenges they face, the workshop was full of joy, sharing, and connection. The women especially enjoyed giving and receiving peer support and Emotional First Aid, as you can see in the heartfelt image above.

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If You Heal 1 Teacher, You Heal Thousands of Learners 

Recently, Brendah completed trainings with 126 primary school teachers and 77 head masters and school administrators in the Kazo District of central Uganda, equipping them with skills in trauma-informed care, so they can implement mental health support systems in their schools, and care for fellow educators and students, alike.

“It has been full of healing and learning,” Bendah shared. “The participants were amazing and fully engaged. The District Education Officer even asked if he could bring his wife to the next training. I am so proud of Healing Together Uganda and the impact we are creating in the community.” 

The buzz from the training even reached a local radio show, which interviewed Brendah about the importance of mental health. 

“I’m going back a better trauma-informed Head Teacher, prepared to break the cycle of harm in my school.” - Kazo district head teacher

"If everyone had access to healing resources, communities would minimize violence, wars and rebellions. We would live peacefully." - Primary school teacher

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Your support for community-led mental health and healing is not only changing lives, it is preventing cycles of violence. Thank you for your advocacy and support for creating a more peaceful and sustainable world, for generations to come.

Healing Together Nepal first partnered with the Women Awareness Center Nepal (WACN) in 2016, to support women who were survivors, who were economically independent, and who were helping each other navigate vulnerable situations. This woman-only cohort created a safer space for participants to share their stories, specifically about gender-based violence, and to build relationships with other women. 

In 2021, as the lockdown started to open, WACN reached out to Healing Together Nepal again with a plan to create more women-only Healing Advocacy workshops. The partnership has been steadily growing ever since, with over 160 women becoming trauma-informed healing advocates to date. In May of 2023, Suresh and Sarita recently trained 50 more women in two cohorts. The trainings were full of joy, sharing, and empowerment. One of the participants said at the end of the training, “With this training, it was amazing to be able to openly share the pain within myself with a trustworthy person.”

Many of these women work directly with other women in alternative economies such as agriculture and small businesses. With the healing and skills learned in the training, they will impact the other women they come into contact with, creating a ripple effect in their networks. We thank you so much for your continued support which makes these workshops possible!