treat. train. supervise. disseminate.
treatment.
We are specialized in the delivery of Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET), an evidence-based treatment for trauma-related mental disorders. NET is delivered in 8-12 sessions. The treatment starts with the lifeline exercise to identify the most significant positive and negative events of the client’s biography. The most arousing memories of the client are then processed by utilizing exposition in vivo with emphasis on the sensory, cognitive, emotional and interoceptive details, their past meaning, and in the ‘here and now’. Narratives are recorded by counselors and handed over to clients at the end of the treatment. The compilation of narratives often systematically reflects suppressed facts of the collective memory, which can be used in an anonymized version (composite narratives) to inform collectives and foster communion in societies marked by violence and fragmentation.
training.
Our training involves a combination of lectures, exercises, role-plays, and demonstrations that cover theoretical and practical skills. We use case studies to help trainees learn from real-life situations and their own experiences. Practice includes supervised role-plays alternating between roles of ’client-counselor’, allowing the exploration of the counselors’ own biography, and working through personal traumatic and stressful events with the narrative exposure methodology. By using personal therapeutic experiences in real-life situations, trainees learn to phrase conversations in a meaningful and supportive way. This also allows them to get familiar with providing therapeutic exposure in a safe and empathic framework. Moreover, our training is flexible to the needs and challenges faced by the trainee group. We have successfully provided various training to family doctors and psychologists in Rio de Janeiro and abroad.
supervision.
Our team has a long-standing experience in the field of trauma psychology for children and adults, both at the individual and community levels. We know that supervision is crucial to assure treatment fidelity and solve challenging issues during Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET). Therefore, we support counselors to reflect on difficult issues related to their NET sessions, and to continuously link therapeutic practice to the theoretic rationale of NET. Supervision also helps to manage own feelings during the dyadic process of NET. Other topics of supervision are suicide ideation and aggression, for example.
dissemination.
We are devoted to broadening the accessibility of effective trauma interventions to the Brazilian population. In our understanding, this should be achieved in close collaboration with both public health and social work sectors. In Brazil, health centers and family doctors are at the frontline of identifying individuals with trauma-related mental disorders. Community and domestic violence and its mental side effect have been an increasing problem intensified since the outbreak of corona. As capacities in the public health sectors are limited, the delivery of trauma interventions via humanitarian projects has become pivotal.