Last Friday a group of 30 counsellors from ten different local organisations completed a Foundation Course in Group Analysis. The training was made possible through a collaboration between Survivors Fund, the Institute of Group Analysis and AVEGA Agahozo.
Group Analysis is a powerful therapeutic medium that focuses on the relationship between the individual and the group, emphasising the essentially social nature of the human experience. As a method of treatment, group analysis offers an approach that recognizes how emotional, behavioural and psychological phenomena emerge in the context of our social groups. Carefully constituted analytic groups have a long record of helping people with personal problems and in promoting personal development.
The need for psychological support in Rwanda is great as a result of the genocide and yet there is a limited number of qualified and experienced psychologists. This training has enabled the counsellors to acquire skills that will improve their mental health support services to the people of Rwanda, and in particular survivors of the genocide.
Our special thanks to three remarkable trainers – Justin Phipps, Anne Morgan and MJ Maher – who have travelled from the UK and South Africa four times in the last two years to deliver the training in Rwanda.