Lay community counsellor

A Lay Community Counselor is a member of a community who is trained to provide a specific service or to perform certain limited activities within that community.

Transitory Communities

A community may be defined as a group of people with a sense of common history, language, ethnicity, mores, values, attitudes, knowledge structures, and purpose. However, traumatic events, such as a natural disaster, spawn new “transitory communities” and establish new dynamics that transcend natural communities. In such transitory communities the blow is not just to the individual psyche, but to the tissues of social life and the bonds that bind these communities together.

Evolution of the Lay Community Counselor Model for large scale disasters

The Lay Community Counselor Model for post-disaster crisis intervention was developed by Dr. Gauthamadas in face of the challenging situation faced by the Academy for Disaster Management Education Planning and Training (ADEPT), in the aftermath of the tsunami. The 51 tsunami affected villages in ADEPT's operational area of Cuddalore District, Tamil Nadu, are geographically removed from urbanization. These villages had not been exposed to the effects of globalization before the event. The fishing community, in these villages, is an “ethnocentric community” that does not broach interaction even with neighboring communities except for their trade. Ethnocentricism has been recognised as the single most powerful impediment to trauma counseling (Chemtob,1997). Ethnocentric communities tend to assume that their experience of the world “is the world”. An influx of the “outside world”, such as in the aftermath of a natural disaster, could, therefore, be an impediment or an advantage. It could either make the community withdraw into itself, or develop a bond with the outside world that has seen and experienced a similar peril. According to the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA), Washington, D.C, the likelihood of defensiveness in such communities will be high, based on pre-exposure conditioning. Therefore the biggest obstacle to any kind of crisis intervention was the community’s lack of openness to “outsiders”.

Ethnocentrism is central to understanding help-seeking behaviour, what the people in the community define as a "problem," what the individual understands as the causes of psychological difficulties, and the unique, subjective experience of traumatic stress symptoms (Parsons, 1985)

While the threats to life associated with psychological trauma are universal, the perception and interpretation of the threats varies across cultures including: the perception of what type of threat is traumatic, the interpretation of the threat's meaning, the nature of the expression (presentation) of symptoms in response to such threats, the cultural context of the responses of traumatized people, as well as the cultural responses by others to those who have been traumatized, and the culturally prescribed paths to recovery from experiencing life-threatening events. Finally, it is also useful to consider the process by which the exposure of individuals and groups to traumatic events is made useful for the entire culture (The National Organization for Victim Assistance, 2003). According to Chemtob (1997), all this is not possible to grasp for newcomers who enter the community for the first time in the aftermath of a disaster, and may not be possible even for those who are professionally trained, to understand in the emergency situation.

Another barrier to counseling in the aftermath of a disaster is language. Language differences and patterns among diverse cultures are common and complicated. The national languages, and even the nuances of local dialects spoken, weave into the delicacy of working with local communities, who are little exposed to the world outside. One can learn Spanish, English or Russian but not understand the synthesis of verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs and phrases that result in common understandings among those who are a part of the culture. Languages including regional dialects dictate how one forms ideas, translates sensory perceptions, and interprets the world. The phrasing, silences, speed of delivery, and pitch or tone of voice, even when using the same word or phrase, means different things to different people and form the crux of the counseling skills. (The National Organization for Victim Assistance, 2003).

While interpreters can be used, training is needed for speaking through an interpreter. Interpreters or translators contribute to the ambiance of any crisis setting. They become the interpreters not only of the survivor but also of the intervener. In some cultures it may be appropriate for them to translate with additional flair. In other cultures such interpretation may be offensive. In the counseling situation such differences alter the healing relationships (The National Organization for Victim Assistance, 2003)

In a post disaster setting the counselor, besides meeting the basic needs of the affected individuals, needs to understand the grieving process and psychological trauma, and the needs of the survivors in a culturally appropriate manner. Also counseling of disaster survivors may require to be undertaken in informal settings. A supportive conversation or a focused problem-solving session during a casual home visit could very well be a counseling session.

Lay Community Counselors

Lay counselors are members of the community who are trained to provide a specific service or to perform certain limited activities. The concept of lay/community counselors is not new.

A large number of agencies outside of India, particularly in the United States and United Kingdom depend on the volunteer sector for counseling services (Bond, 1993). Therefore the strategy adopted by ADEPT was of community based counseling using volunteer lay community counselors who share a significant aspect of their background – culture, language and experience primarily - with the affected community .

Members from the affected communities, and others closely interacting with the local population such as teachers, government personnel etc., can be highly effective to reach out as community counselors as they represent the groups they are serving, and can readily gain access to them. This model works by strengthening the existing social support networks.

Lay counselors have been used in counseling of drug addicts, people living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS etc. Experiences have showed that paraprofessional counselors, who would work effectively in their home-community, can be produced with short-term training. Gluckstern (1972) reported success of a 60-hour training of parents as lay counselors. The study evaluated the effect of the program on the trainees with regard to knowledge and attitudes, the effect of the training upon the trainees with regard to counseling skills acquisition, and the role the trainees played in the community seven months after training. The results of the study indicated that the trainees did in fact learn the skills taught and did maintain them over a period of time. Peer counselors have been found to be more effective than regular professional care (Malchodi et al., 2003)

Lay community counselors overcome the issues of entry into community, those related to ethnocentrism, and the shortage of resources, by training members from within the affected community. These same counselors are especially effective as they are involved in the relief and recovery operations after the disaster.

Creating Lay Community Counsellors

Keeping in mind the situational limitations ADEPT's goals of creating Lay Community Counselors were:

The participants were trained in the psychological effects of disasters, and simple guidelines with sample techniques to handle them, including vignettes and an assignment to design sample action plans targeting different situations. Training methodology was short interactive lectures combined with interactive group work and participatory plenary sessions. Training duration was three days. The entire training was conducted in the vernacular using simple language and avoiding technical terms and jargon.

The design of the program included the preparation of the training module, identification of the target group, planning duration of the training and its methodology and post training professional support. The module was formulated for purposes of exigency and the material adapted from several open source documents.

The training team included a psychiatrist, a psychologist and a trained counselor.

The participants of the program were several members associated with the local communities, and grass root level leaders, especially those who have already been providing supportive service to the affected community prior to the tsunami such as:

The expected outcomes of the training included basic skills of counseling such as the capacity:

The training was designed for a three-day period to quickly equip the volunteer community counselors with the basic skills of counseling. Thereafter additional support and hand holding was provided through fortnightly follow up half-day sessions over a three-month period that was participatory and interactive.

The Community Counselors took the initiative to sit and talk with the survivors, listen to them and be a part of their loss; this was immensely helpful. The survivors needed someone to empathize with them and it was not always the monetary part that mattered. The community counselors provided counsel by:

Twice monthly follow up meetings showed that the training produces efficient and expeditious results. The referral pattern was good and it was observed that the community counselors developed culturally appropriate interventions that were effective and methodologically diverse for every group. These have been documented as case studies. The trained volunteer community counselors helped to provide structure and calm in the midst of the chaos in the aftermath of the tsunami.

The methods used among the adult population were case specific, innovative and adaptive such as:

The examples of cases referred to professionals were also indicative of the confidence of the community counselors – both in the counseling process and in realising their own limitations The design of the program and the associated advantages of the model were many including:

Effectiveness of Lay Community Counselors

Focus group evaluations conducted 8 months and 16 months after the training elicited the long-term effects of the training from core groups of community counselors, including the knowledge and attitudes, the effect of the training upon the trainees with regard to counseling skills acquisition, and the role the trainees played in the community immediately after the training and at the time of evaluation.

Several post training benefits of the training were elicited. All those who had undergone training felt that the training had a positive impact on the quality of ameliorative assistance provided by them immediately after the tsunami, when compared to the assistance given by their colleagues and peers who had not been trained.. Many felt they could cope better both personally and professionally. They felt that the training enhanced their skills in interpersonal relationships and helped them to be more insightful in their work. The major points that were repeatedly mentioned by the majority of participants of the training include the following:

All participants felt that the duration of the training in the opinion was adequate for the work done. The study also indicated that even 16 months after the tsunami those who had not undergone the training were unable to cope with crises that they were subsequently faced with, while those who were trained could narrate in depth how they handled subsequent crisis situations. More than half of the trainees felt competent to identify and refer cases they were unable to handle to experts and several who were from the Public health department were aware of the services available and frequently referred them to experts.

The model now needs to be tested in other emergency situations.

See also

References

    Bond, Tim (1993). Standards and Ethics for Counselling in Action. (Sage, London.)

    Chemtob, C.M., Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Trauma, and Culture, International Review of Psychiatry, Volume 2, Chapter 11

    Community Crisis Response Team Training Manual, The National Organization for Victim Assistance, 2003

    De Vries, M.W., Trauma in Cultural Perspective, in van der Kolk, B.A., McFarlane, A.C. and Weisreth, L., Traumatic Stress.

    DeWolfe, Deborrah J, Training Manual for Mental Health and Human Services Workers in Major Disasters, Ed: Nordboe, Diana, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, USA, 2000.

    Ehrenreich, John H. and McQuaide Sharon, Coping with disasters: A guidebook to psychosocial intervention, Revised edition, Center for psychology, State University of New York, 2001

    Gauthamadas U., A Model for Crisis Intervention in Large Scale Disasters using Lay Community Counsellors Image:Community Counsellors - ADEPT.pdf

    Gluckstern, Norma B. Parents as Lay Counselors: The Development of a Systematic Community Program for Drug Counseling, Education Reources Information Center, 1972

    Kashyap, Lina, Introduction to this Special Issue, International Journal of Advancement of Counselling, 26:4, 2004

    New South Wales Institute of Psychiatry, Disaster Mental Health Response Handbook, 2000

    Malchodi Carolyn S., Oncken, Cheryl, Dornelas; Ellen A.; Caramanica, Laura, Gregonis, Elizabeth; Curry, Stephen L., The Effects of Peer Counseling on Smoking Cessation and Reduction, Obstetrics & Gynecology 2003;101:504-510

    Parsons, E.R., Ethnicity and Traumatic Stress: The Intersecting Point in Psychotherapy, in Trauma and Its Wake, ed. Figley, C.R., Brunner/Mazel: New York, 1985.

    Rocky Mountain Disaster Mental Health Institute, Crisis Intervention Training for Disaster workers

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