The Chronic Pain of Fifty years and the lack of Psycho-social Counseling in South Sudan (Part 2)
By David Matiop Gai, Juba, South Sudan
Jan 29, 2016 (SSB) — When we look at the past, simply we can recalled events of massive killings, rape, all forms of abuses, torturing, lost of friends and dear ones, properties; and all these incidents remained in the mind of people as severe wounds which need healing process and proper treatment, but our big problem in South Sudan, we lack many health facilities to address most of social problems, even campaigns and awareness for sanitation is a problem.
When we went through health and wholeness lectures last year, we found ourselves in risk; but with mental stresses, and confusion of thoughts, there is no single South Sudanese who can claim his/her freedom from the bondage of mental problems. Others may deny what is existing with them but the situation or environment can explain it much better!!!!
First able; we do ignore any incident which may cause stress, trauma, and mental disorder and we jump quickly to the issues of peace, unity, forgiveness, and reconciliation without addressing counseling processes and integration programmmes. For example, if conflicts and disputes arise among south Sudanese communities, people reached to solutions without digging proper identification of the root cause through counseling process where programs of peace, unity, forgiveness, and reconciliations are the final steps of counseling conclusion and integration.
When a solution to a conflict has been successfully done, there is still a great work to be done. In conflict approach, the history of killing, rape, abuse or torture, and psychological aspects could remain as the main objectives. A violent conflict causes psychological damage to all those involved like army, civilians eyewitness, warring-groups, or conflicting parties, and atrocities, and injustice need to be opened up and address the painful process for all concerned. These grievances were not been addressed before when the civil war ended in 20005, I repeated. Now, the truly commission and tribunals counseling centers have an important role to play among South Sudanese societies and also to bring out their experiences for public hearing and help the nation as a whole for final healing and reconciliations to take place.
Secondly; Lack of counseling centers signifies series of violent. Suppose government would have open many counseling centers with the help of NGOs, National professions, and UN agencies to assist government to eradicate mental problems in public and private sectors like in police, prisons, army, hospitals, justice, and other public places where social problems are address. The aims and objectives of employing counselors in these institutions is to help government, families, and the entire nation at large solve mental problems that affected people for fifty years of civil war.
Thirdly; Poor counseling department in Juba Teaching Hospital. You cannot imagine a national hospital lack this big and important profession. Last year in 2015, NGOs, and UN agencies use to take their staff to Nairobi for counseling and individual assessment if their staff fall under stresses, and harassments. Few organizations who attempt to counsel people in south Sudan are not adequately having enough qualifications which may be sufficient and effective to counseling but they are surveyors’ professionalisms for employment opportunists.
Fourth; Limit clinical clinics and home therapy. In South Sudan, it is a chock to us why a big city like Juba lacks clinical shops for counseling and treatments? I heard only one home therapy last year in Kator, and we have a big gap in this sector of clinical facilities. There are vast different between clinical clinics and counseling centers. In clinical clinics, clinical psychologists, medical doctors, counselors or social workers conduct both treatment and counseling while counseling centers are broad centers for problems survey, research, and finding solutions to public or individuals problems. Both centers are not here in South Sudan. When are we getting them in the country?
Fifth; Lack of psychology/ psychiatry department or faculty in South Sudan public universities. For example in Juba national university, there is no department of psychology , psychiatry or social work to train teachers, public administrators, business managers, medical doctors, because these specialists are always close with the people. In schools, pupils underachievement and poor school performances because teachers have no applied psychology and they never went for educational psychology trainings. In public institutions, administrators disputes with staff because don’t feel like civil servants, and they have not gone through psychological ethics of self-improvement series of psychology and counseling.
In summary, as a social worker specialized in social welfare, and school social work, mental illness, stress, mental disorder, disorder of thoughts and feelings, and emotional disorder have attention changes on thoughts and behaviors. Therefore in adults, its cause confusions and social withdrawal, in youths, it’s also bring inability to cope up with problems and daily activities, and finally in children, it causes poor changes in school performances, and refusing to go to bed or go to school, or developing disobedience and aggressions to the parents. And all the above three stages are layers of humanity in their useful levels in the society, but if they are affected in their capacities like the way we know it in South Sudan, peace among people is in question because who will listen to who for advice? Let the nation think well for its future!
Thank you so much for this reading. God bless you all.
The author is a co-founder of National Mental Health Care Organization; he holds Bachelor degree in Social Work and Administration from SSCUST, Bachelor degree in Theology from CLT Montana USA, and a fellow researcher. He can be reach at tonggaid551@yahoo.com/davidmatiopgai@gmail.com.
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