The long-awaited day of the ceasefire finally came. For some Colombian citizens, 26 September 2016 brought the first day of their lives without the sound of gunfire. On this day they hear nothing but the sound of birds, the rushing river, the wind through the trees and the mooing of cows. An unfamiliar sense of peace fills their ears. In 2016 a peace agreement was finally made between the Colombian government and the longstanding guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Fifty years of civil war had technically ended, but those long years of war certainly impacted the lives of Colombian citizens.
I had been following the news on the peace process for years. It is close to my heart because I grew up and became a psychologist in Colombia. It was touching to hear that the ceasefire had finally happened. As the months went by, I learned that Colombian psychologists and professionals from other disciplines were working hard to restore shattered lives and communities after decades of conflict. I couldn't help but ask myself how I could contribute to the healing process. As we say in Colombia, I felt it was hora de ponerse las botas – time to put on your boots (meaning it's time to get to work).
In 2015 I was awarded the APS Grant for Intercultural and/or International Projects to do just that; put on my boots and contribute. The aim was to share with a developing community the learnings of 10 years of work in Australia developing integrated therapeutic interventions for victims of human trafficking in transcultural contexts, most of whom have experienced complex trauma with many having lived in war zones.
A safe space for women and girls
In Sydney, the Salvation Army, through The Freedom Partnership1, operates a Safe House for women of different cultures who have experienced trafficking and virtual slavery within Australia. The safe house provides case management, assessment, planning, legal support, family reunification and migration, and medical and psychological support. Many of these women come from areas of civil war and/or armed conflict.
Since the Safe House opened almost 10 years ago, I have worked as a consultant psychologist with the team. Interdisciplinary meetings, advocacy, psychoeducation and clinical interventions (assessment, treatment and evaluation) have been created and provided to support the complex psychological needs of clients. As a result, women and girl residents of the Safe House, from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds and ages, have achieved remarkable recovery and restoration and have successfully overcome their experiences of trafficking and slavery. In other words, they have transitioned from being victims to survivors.
I have learnt that the impact of experiences of human trafficking on the mental health of its victims is boundless. These experiences include significant isolation, cultural dislocation, developmental task disruption, and in many cases, the development of mental illnesses such as posttraumatic stress disorder, acute stress disorder, or mood and anxiety disorders. The impact of civil war appears to have similar consequences on the mental health of its victims.
Trauma and the transcultural context
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2014) estimates that at any given time 2.5 million individuals are being trafficked. Some people and communities are more vulnerable than others to human trafficking due to a combination of individual characteristics and personal history with systemic and complex external factors such as social/educational/gender inequalities, marginalisation, social and political instability, war, military presence, conditions that permit labour exploitation and/or failure to regulate unscrupulous or corrupt practices (American Psychological Association, 2015).
If war and the conditions mentioned above increase the risk for human trafficking, then post-war Colombia was highly vulnerable. Half a century of conflict, a large displaced community, and political instability in remote regions were red flags signalling the real possibility that after so much suffering the population could soon be increasingly exposed to the scourge of human traffickers. Based on the situation, I reasoned, Colombian psychologists were potentially facing two big challenges: dealing with the psychological consequences of war, and dealing with the prospective increase in victims of human trafficking.
Through colleagues who work in Colombian institutions involved in the peace process, I gained insight into the needs and challenges faced by some organisations and professionals working in the peace reconstruction process in Colombia. As expected, this included dealing with victims of abuse, human trafficking, slavery, coercion and displacement. It looked like the Colombian community was in need of all the support they could get.
I realised that I had something that I could contribute to help. Sharing the integrated intervention approach to complex trauma in transcultural contexts became the aim of my APS Intercultural/International project.
Bringing a new approach to Colombia
Two main Colombian institutions provided some resources and platforms for the training to take place: the Psychology Faculty at Javeriana University, Cali and La Secretaría de Paz y Cultura Ciudadana – Alcaldía de Cali (Mayor's Department of Peace and Culture, Cali). With the invaluable help of my colleague Catalina Niño, a psychologist on the ground in Colombia, I led a team of professionals to facilitate training workshops for those leading the healing process for Colombians affected by the civil war.
Given the variety of their cultures and linguistic domains, and their emotional and social vulnerability, interventions used with this population had to be designed using integrated psychological approaches. Outcomes of the work with the Safe House clients have indicated that integrating non-verbal communication forms such as creative art therapy was a highly effective tool in the treatment of psychological presentations. It also demonstrated that use of varied psychological frameworks is paramount in promoting the successful transition from being a victim to becoming a survivor.
I designed and delivered two different educational workshops in Cali, the third largest city in Colombia, located in a valley between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes with a large displaced population, mostly as a result of the civil war.
The first workshop addressed a group of psychologists, social workers, government officials, managers from non-government organisations and directors involved in the peace restoration process. Workshop two addressed the anti-human trafficking team from Cali, comprising psychologists, lawyers, representatives of the Federal Police, representatives of the Colombia Immigration Department and members of the National Prosecution Office. A total of 50 professionals completed the training.
The workshop participants were all dealing in some capacity with individuals and communities experiencing the psychological impact of civil war or human trafficking and slavery. Most of these professionals were working on a reintegration process for the victims of half a century of civil war. They face the challenge of having to develop appropriate individual or collective interventions for victims of abuse, human trafficking, coercion, exploitation and displacement, many of whom are facing the consequences of complex trauma and in need of tools to cope with the new way of life that comes after years of living under significant threat.
The workshops focused on providing an understanding of the different frameworks and components influencing integrated interventions when dealing with complex trauma in transcultural contexts. Theoretical frameworks presented included those from clinical psychology, neuroscience and social psychology.
Through experiential activities, the workshops explored a number of themes and approaches, including inter-relational trauma, attachment theories, neuroscience of trauma, use of creative art therapy practices, the role of the body in the restoration of safety, carer self-care, the impact of culture on therapeutic interventions and psychological aspects of migration.
Future implications
The completion of this project offered more awareness and possibilities for the role of psychology in post-war, human trafficking and transcultural contexts. It was a great example of mutual collaboration between The Freedom Partnership (Salvation Army), the Australian Psychological Society, the Psychology Faculty at Javeriana University, Cali and other organisations supporting the healing process.
This collaboration gave me the opportunity to continue to develop approaches that respond to the rapidly increasing problem of human trafficking and its complexities. My aim is to continue to expand my work in this field, and in the future, collaborate with other institutions from different parts of the world to help communities recover from trauma and eventually thrive.
Almost a year after the training took place, organisations in Cali, Colombia report that they have managed to embrace principles from the integrated approaches set out in my training workshops to support the community. The understanding of complex trauma, the use of creativity and of the arts (dance, music, painting), and awareness of transcultural principles are all helping this group of brave, determined Colombian professionals who most certainly have put their boots on.
1 The Freedom Partnership is a national initiative that aims to end slavery in Australia.