Humanistic approach to repel traumatic experiences

Atapattu Bandara

There is a danger in looking at ex-LTTE combatants in a traumatic angle since it does create a negative attitude among them that they’re a separate group from the dominant society. They must be treated with a positive approach that ‘all are humans’ despite the past involvements, said psychosocial forum consultant Chrishara Paranawithana.

She was speaking at a media briefing to launch Psychosocial Forum’s (PSF) database at the Cinnamon Lakeside recently.

The psychosocial Forum was established in 1997 to enhance effective coordination among local and international state and non-Governmental organizations. The overall objective of the Forum was to promote the quality, competence and accountability of psychosocial work of individuals, organizations and institutions on issues related to conflicts and disasters.

The psychosocial Forum, associated with Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) comprises around 50 organizations and has a network in 13 districts with a broader vision to enhance psychosocial well-being of individuals and communities. Psychosocial well-being describes particular dimension of well-being, which relates to the sense and actual experience of being, becoming and belonging.

In terms of rehabilitation of ex-LTTE combatants and resettlement of Persons in welfare villages, there must be a concerted effort by the community to bring about a positive change in every sphere.

In a traumatized society like Sri Lanka there is a potential for an insurgence of antisocial groups, said forum member Tami Tamitegama. The Forum is working to convince the people on the need to understand psychosocial phenomena for a healthy social environment as other developed countries are highly utilizing this strategically planning to minimize their common pitfalls in day to day functions, said Paranawithana.

She said PSF has worked to bridge the gap between the Government and the non-Government sectors by encouraging divers stakeholder participation and involvement in its consultative processes, planning meetings and working groups to ensure all sectors working at dynamic levels.

The Government is playing a key role in this regard and a collective psychosocial approach is a must for the recovery of the post-traumatized war-affected experiences and to forget all what happened in the past.

“We cannot generalize one part of the society but there has to be an individualistic approach to answer the questions,” said Paranawithana.