Counseling group in progress with children.
India continues to witness deadly ethnic violence where members of one ethnic group carry out an intense, sudden lethal attack on another group over range of issues relating to caste, religion and political ideology. Brutal and sadistic, the violence has left thousands massacred and a large number rendered homeless in almost every state of India.
Swanchetan works with the victims of violence providing them with trauma counseling to overcome their symptoms of trauma, terror and helplessness.
In the 2002 Gujarat riots, Swanchetan worked with the children in those areas in the state of Gujarat where the violence was at its peak. We provided trauma therapy for children to help them work through their nightmares and reached out to a thousand children in camps and schools in the affected areas.
Therapy to enact exodus and trauma in Jammu and Kashmir
The project was supported by a grant from National Human Rights Commission and a research was carried out as well to understand the effects of childhood trauma. The organization has continued to work with children and caretakers with support towards bridging the ethnic divide and in the peace building process.
The organization is initiating a study on trauma and development with the survivors of the minority community that faced ethnic violence leaving nearly three thousand dead and a much larger number debilitated in the capital of India.
Dealing with children’s fear after ethnic violence.
India because of its population consisting of different ethnic groups sits on a volatile cauldron of emotions that leads to ethnic violence and thousands being massacred or assaulted in each incident. Swanchetan believes that building a first intervention model for the care and rehabilitation of the communities who face trauma is the first step in our evolution as a healing society.