Aart of Life to set agenda for grief and trauma counseling in Nigeria

Championing the course of grief and trauma counseling in the country, the Aart of Life Foundation aims to set an agenda through a symposium set to hold at the Reiz Continental Hotel, Abuja on October 15, 2015.

Against the backdrop of the insurgencies and the endless terror attacks in the country, the event, which is titled “Developing a Framework for Disaster Management in Africa: The Nairobi Experience and the Nigeria Challenge,” will address diverse grief issues of victims of circumstances.

The Chairman of the Foundation, Mrs. Taiwo Taiwo told The Guardian: “for a long time, many people do not care and are insensitive to the fact that these people who suffer from these terror attacks are fellow compatriots and I wonder how they manage their grief.”

She cited that the way people support the aggrieved in Nigeria does not help much, but rather multiples the three manifestations of trauma, rage, fear and guilt, as the person is left few month after to forge on their own.

Taiwo who doubles as the founder said she was inspired to set up the foundation after the lost of her daughter in 2002, to support people in grief and trauma.

She disclosed to our correspondent that from 2007 through to 2009, the foundation had the first ever telephone counseling, in partnership with the MTN Foundation to reach out to all Nigerians who had any issues with grief and trauma.

The initiative, which was dubbed “0703 healing”, revealed that 70 per cent of caller were young men from the northern part of the country, and all they sort for was to talk to someone on the basis of anonymity.