Less Fearful, More Active: Teachers’ Debriefing Groups
Student at the 8th Boru Primary School, Kocaeli.
Photograph by Rana Mullan
© UNICEF Turkey 2001
The Teachers’ Debriefing Groups sought to help teachers cope with the normal reactions to their traumatic experiences of the catastrophes. Participants would be encouraged to express feelings, thoughts and reactions related to important losses which they had suffered in order to develop these coping mechanisms.
Following the first seminar on trauma psychology in early September, a second seminar to train the core group of sixty-two NET members and the directors of the eight provincial GRCs was held on the 22nd to the 23rd of September in Ankara. A manual, Psychological Debriefing Following Critical Events, Traumas and Losses, was produced for the purpose. Following that, the NET debriefed and trained two hundred and eighty-nine school counsellors in debriefing techniques before the end of October. After three months, they had, in turn, debriefed over eight thousand two hundred and thirty-five teachers in the Marmara region.
What Is Psychological Debriefing?
Out of several debriefing models, Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) is the best known and most widely used. It is designed to prevent or alleviate the traumatic consequences of abnormal events. It was developed to help workers in the emergency services, although versions have been used to help victims, and other survivors, including children. Three principles of Proximity (reach them at the disaster site), Immediacy (as soon as possible) and Expectancy (with the aim of returning them to their daily routine in a better psychological state) characterise CISD. It teaches more constructive ways of dealing with loss, based on grief counselling, and uses therapies to minimise the avoidance symptoms of post-traumatic stress, focusing on the mind-body relationship to show how an event can influence the individual’s physical reactions. The object is to obtain cathartic relief within a structured environment, that is, the counsellor-led group. Good leadership skills and an understanding of group dynamics form the essential link between the counsellor and the participants.
Through the Teacher’s Debriefing meetings we became a natural support group for ourselves. I learned so many things. I guess I had difficulty freeing the child inside of me but I learned how to do that soon enough. I saw that I could solve problems with love.
From the first Teachers’ Debriefing implementation, Spring 2000
Professor Atle Dyregrov’s model (1989) was chosen for the programme. Described as Psychological Debriefing (PD), it facilitates the review, in detail, of facts, thoughts, impressions and reactions experienced in a traumatic situation. It is a cohesive tool, rather than a form of therapy, providing openings for mutual support and the sharing of feelings, accelerating recovery and providing a cognitive grip for those concerned on the passed situation.
Benefits Of The Teachers’ Debriefing Programme
The teachers who participated in the evaluation were considerably affected by the earthquake, both physically and psychologically. Roughly one fifth of them had damaged homes and had suffered traumatic experiences. Most found the TDs helpful, reported that they applied the information gained in their daily lives and expressed the desire for more sessions.
I learned so many things … There were times when I felt unable to face the crowded classroom, I was afraid that I might make the children’s problems worse given my state of mind. But very gradually I found my self-confidence again, learning not to be afraid of the problems which came my way.
From the first Teacher’s Debriefing implementation, Spring 2000
The TD meetings were demonstrably successful in building confidence and imparting knowledge of the effects of trauma on the individual. Counsellors interviewed as recently as Autumn, 2001, said that the programme was a relevant intervention not only in the context of the disasters in the Marmara region but also in terms of future contingencies such as fire, terrorist atrocities, traffic accidents and recurring natural disasters. It is a remarkable achievement that the interventions were actualised in a country where the techniques were previously unknown, but it may still be said that there is room for improvement and attention should be paid to the timing and frequency of meetings in the future as a priority. As a result of the programme, an improved communication network has since developed between the regional GRCs, carrying with it many benefits beyond the area of psychological debriefing, opening an arena of inter-provincial dialogue which had not previously existed to such an extent.
The fully illustrated text of Less Fearful, More Active is also available for download in print-ready pdf format. [PDF 1.25MB]
Previous page
|
Next page