NIMHANS teaching staff trauma management to handle cases of abuse against women

NIMHANS is rolling out an eight-module advanced certification course across all the 708 crisis centres in multiple languages in batches of 25

The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS) is teaching trauma management for the staff of One stop Crisis Centres, who deal with cases of abuse, harassment and other trauma by women. The move, which officials of the women and child development ministry said will soon be expanded to the staff in all of the ministry’s facilities, was prompted by findings of a survey that NIMHANS conducted among counsellor in Karnataka during the pandemic. The ministry also said that it is taking the help of NALSA to provide legal training to the staff.

NIMHANS officials said that under the second wave of the pandemic, in the face of rising complaints of domestic violence cases that it was receiving at its psycho-social helpline, it conducted a study among 30 counsellors of the OSCs in Karnataka. During the survey the counsellors asked for intervention in three specific areas.

“They asked for help in tele-counselling as it was difficult to reach callers physically. They also asked for help in dealing with trauma management of those with disability, those that faced the issue of self harm, and women who were suicidal. Apart from that, counsellors also sought help in dealing with adolescent girls,” a NIMHANS official said.

The helpline, which was available to all, was later diversified to include one dedicated to women and children at the behest of the WCD ministry, officials said.

The findings of the survey led to a collaboration between the WCD ministry and NIMHANS, with the institute designing a four-module training course for staff members under the Stree Manoraksha scheme. Over 2,033 security and admin personnel, as well as clerks and counsellors in 28 states and UTs have till now been trained in trauma management.

NIMHANS is now rolling out an eight-module advanced certification course across all the 708 crisis centres in multiple languages in batches of 25. The module, which will come with assessments and tests, will be available in Gujarati, Hindi, English, Odia, Tamil, Marathi and Telugu initially.

The course, vetted by an advisory group, will cover trauma-based care, self care, psychological intervention from abuse, intergenerational trauma management as well as couple therapy. A website with resources in Hindi and English has already been launched.

The ministry also said that it is roping in NALSA to train the functionaries of these crisis centres across the country on legal provisions for safety and security of women. They will train them on awareness about pro-bono legal assistance to women through NALSA as well as the Victim Compensation Scheme.

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