Counselling Intervention for Budo Community

Published September 3, 2010

into reckless behaviour or extreme avoidant behaviours that are detrimental to their development as human beings. Of course each one will continue with life but the level of mental health functioning and impairment will depend on individual resiliency and intervention. So it is not yet over for us. We need a lot of intervention to cope with this new sad experience.

Among the strategies to cope is the need to see justice expeditiously done according to our human standards. The state machinery has an important part to play or else it aggravates the mental health functioning of the affected kith and kin. It should be seen to be on the side of the affected relations. Any interpretation of apparent diversion from the anxiety-prone relations will perpetuate mental health illness with dire consequences.

There are evidence -based practices that can be sought to help cope with this debilitating situation. These include: psychosocial, medication, counseling/psychotherapy and preventive intervention.

Among the psychosocial, the parents, relatives, all different community agencies, associations, be at village level, church etc, should come in and offer the needed company and presence to the afflicted. They can come in to help face this phenomenon. They should not create the impression that they are helping one to forget the agony or sweep everything under carpet but rather to assist in accepting the reality of separation.

The parents of the survivors should watch very closely their children who would exhibit fright for no apparent reason. They might be developing recurrent, or re-experiencing of the event, through flashbacks, nightmares or images. They might be avoiding any stimuli at home, which remind them of the event, e.g., being in the house, fire or specific time when the incident happened. Some might show increased signs of arousal, e.g., lack of sleep or easily irritated, change in cognitive behaviours, avoidance or any other signs.

Consultations with mental health workers e.g a counselor, psychologists, psychiatrists is highly recommended for both parents and children. These can be very instrumental in the healing process.

Prayer intervention is another efficacious therapy for those who hold a strong reality of connectivity between the earthly and the supernatural intervention in life.

The children need to be talked to through our family intervention systems or even seek professional assistance. The parents should not insist on where the child might continue with schooling. They should seriously talk about it before the new term starts. In case the child is very specific and concerned with trauma reminders it is likely that this child may take long to settle where those reminders are going to be part and parcel of the daily environment.

Norman Nsereko

Counselling Pyschologist

Norman Nsereko is a Counselling Pyschologist in Uganda. He has worked for long time with school children.