PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT REQUIRED TO BRING CHILDREN TO NORMALCY

Though the flood water had receded, the post-traumatic stress is high among the survivors of flood in Assam. These calamities significantly impact children’s psychosocial well-being and development.

Caritas India provided psychosocial support to the survivors in the relief camp of Chotu Nilibari village to overcome their difficult situation. A child friendly space was also setup for allowing children to express their feelings and emotions. 58 children and 37 women were provided emotional support through recreational activities, focus group activities, yoga exercise and face to face interaction with individuals.

Disaster trauma hamper the normal activities of a person both physically and mentally. “Psychosocial support intervention is required to assist the survivors especially children to ventilate their fear and bring them back to their normal routine” said Catherine Kune, Program Officer deputed in Assam for psychosocial support.

Recreational activities such as drawing, games, storytelling and focus group discussion were organized for the children and women to express their stress and regain a sense of normalcy. Sport equipment’s such as badminton, football, volleyball and skipping rope were provided to the children to engage them into normalcy situation.
Children drawn pre and post village scenario of the village through their drawings to express their feelings of the disaster.

Caritas India had also trained 10 volunteers from the community on basic psychosocial support during disasters. These volunteers will assist the community by providing practical and emotional support, for example by calming them down and providing comfort and help during emergency. Separate sessions were facilitated for children, women and adolescent.