Training counsellors, or psychosocial workers, in areas of armed conflict requires an explicit vision of the relationship between the educational methods used by the trainer, and the main messages of the training. This article describes the educational methods, subject matter and main messages of contact-oriented training of trainers for counsellors or psychosocial workers. The approach described herein is an interactive process in which the participants and the trainer become engaged in through personal contact.

In this article practical methods are describedfor the training of trainers who have the task to train teams implementing psychosocial and mental health interventions after wars, violence and natural disasters.

Keywords: TOT, training of trainers, training, supervision, psychosocial, mental health, interventions, global, violence, natural disasters

The training of trainers (TOT¹) in context

Three days after theTsunami hit the war-torn Jaffna district in northern Sri Lanka, a mental health task force was formed. The approach of this task force, comprising a cooperative initiative between 18 humanitarian agencies, is described in this field report.

Keywords: tsunami, psychological first aid

Before the Tsunami

In situations of protracted armed conflict such as in sub-Saharan Africa, there exists a strong tendency to describe rebel violence as a senseless war of ‘all-against-allThis ‘Hobbesian’ violence (a theory that people have the fundamental right to pursue selfish aims but will relinquish those rights in the interest of the common good) is often illustrated by the sight of drugged and gun-toting youths engaged in the harassment of innocent civilians. Their sole motivation appears to lay in the benefit of organized plunder.