The programme consists of four components: Part I, a Practicum, Part II and a competency-based assessment.
1. Part I: Initial Equipping Session. Candidates attend a 3.5 day Initial Equipping session which allows participants to: explore their own trauma and bring it to Christ for healing; experience participatory learning; learn basic biblical and mental health principles related to trauma care; and develop plans for using what they have learned in their community. Trauma healing facilitators aim to ‘do no harm’ to those they help. To this end, participants are evaluated through a simple test.
2. Practicum. Participants return to their communities and apply what they have learned. They need to teach the five core lessons at least twice to groups of at least three people and send in reports on their activities.
3. Part II: Advanced Equipping Session. This 3-day session (conducted 6 or 9 months after the Initial Equipping session) focuses on consolidating the facilitator’s competencies in view of their practicum experience.
4. Competency-based assessment. Participants will be certified when they demonstrate the following competencies:
- Able to manage personal well-being.
- Able to work on a team.
- Able to help traumatised people (listening, confidentiality, and so on).
- Able to lead groups in a participatory way.
- Demonstrated understanding of the content.
5. Certification and Deployment. At the end of the advanced session, participants are awarded a Certificate of Participation, or, for those who qualify, a facilitator-in-training Certificate. For some, these certificates may be awarded later when the competencies have been acquired.
