Dr. Perlie Polestico gave a concise concept of doing Psychological Debriefing, or Psychological 1st-Aid, or defusing the emotional bomb that usually gets formed after a very distressing exposure like landslides. She particularly advocated for more than one debriefing session for the simple reason that victims may not immediately recall everything on its first accounting or debriefing session. And, debriefing may actually be done even beyond the 24-72-hours lapse from the event. Exposure to victims of kidnapping shows the plausibility and even necessity of this possibility for "extension" of the debriefing process. We need not even be so fanatic as to import God immediately into the session. Survivors seem to have a very strong sense of God's presence that mention of Him eventually flows into the debriefing process. And, it is important to be sensitive to cues for counseling referral, so that if we are not professionals, we should be humble enough to refer the survivors to licensed practitioners for ethical reasons.
Aw, yes, did I tell you the outline of the morning's training?
First, Ms. Nila Urrea with her team did the ice-breaking activities. The first was to bond the participants together, followed by Bato-bato-bato-batobatobato exercise that further sparked up the participants. Sayang, we were all engrossed in this ice-breaking we forgot to take pictures.
Then I did the compromise-building portion in order for us to have "meeting-of-minds". In short, we wanted that our training was responsive to the needs of the participants. Swak talaga! What they wanted, we were ready to give: concept of debriefing, the whys and process - parts of the debriefing exercise, practical applications of, and yes the ethical considerations and standards of psychological debriefing. After that followed Dr. Polestico's talk. Then Mr. Cesar Cong gave us the steps in the debriefing of victims.
For the workshop portion, we asked them to group themselves into 5 and map out the steps for debriefing Victims of (a)Landslides, (b) Earthquakes, (c) Fire, (d) Vehicular Accidents, and (e) Floods. Sorry I forgot to take pictures since the presentation of Mr. Cong was so enriching and very informative that I got so engrossed in his talk, as well as the group reporting of applying the steps of debriefing into the 5 stressful events. There are other events which psychological debriefing can be applied to, including kidnapping victims, witnessing neighborhood
violence, not to mention the debriefing of rape and sexual harassment as well as domestic violence. Even victims of volcano eruptions can be clients of debriefing. Wow! Lots of possibilities indeed.
Ms. Urrea brought along some more notes and handouts which Dr. Gandeza immediately made ready. These were more documents to make the debriefing something we can all feel confident in doing because we had this precious training from licensed practitioners.
After the training, we were served lunch, thanks to Dr. Gandeza and the SLU. Mukhang mauulit ata ito. Masarap ang lunch e! And the bonding was great too. We're all together in this profession, then let's all Volt-In.
And to top it all, I bet this would be worth mentioning. In gratitude for the "service" IPCAP provided to the people of the Cordillera Region, RGC Claire Jimenez, Baguio City's 1st Registered Guidance Counselor, sent us for pasalubong potatoes, cabbages, carrots and bananas, including the view to her newborn son, a baby conceived during the days she served IPCAP in its three holding of the 1st National Convention - in UE, Manila, Dumaguete, and Cebu. Don't ask me who the father is because that is very natural for her as a married woman. Thanks a lot Claire, and the people of the Cordillera in Baguio. Hanggang sa muli. God bless and take care
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