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360 Life: lives transformed through trauma-informed healing, identity and wellbeing

Trauma:

There is a strong correlation between trauma suffered by an individual, and the development of mental health disorders and challenging behaviours, especially where the trauma is significant and ongoing.

This trauma can include poverty, violence, forced displacement, disability, and inequality. It can be a significant one-off experience, a series of traumatic events in the past, or be an ongoing traumatic situation that is currently being lived through.

Dr Helen Harrison

360Life has been written and is delivered by Dr Helen Harrison (PhD), an expert post-traumatic wellbeing. She has over 20 years of international experience working in the field of humanitarian development across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

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The resultant mental ill-health and challenging behaviours might manifest soon after the trauma, or they could be delayed for months or even years post trauma. They can be seen in children and in adults.

Because of the link between mental health and trauma, we need to be trauma-informed in our approach.

This could be relevant to service users of the programmes being delivered,  or those who are delivering the programmes. The reality is that anyone might have experienced trauma, one-off or ongoing, recently or in the past, and so be struggling with the repercussions of this in their day-to-day life.

A trauma-informed approach is important for all interactions and interventions. Even if the project focus is not primarily associated with trauma and mental health challenges, it is still relevant to consider those issues and their bearing on the project, the beneficiaries, the wider community of stakeholders, and the staff who are running that project.

This is where 360Life training and workshops can come in.

This training has helped me so much in having a more trauma-informed approach when working with the refugee community. They’ve been through so much, and 360Life has helped me have a much way of supporting them.

C, refugee support worker, Lebanon

What

How 360Life can help

It includes teaching and experiential learning opportunities and is delivered in a modular format. Depending on your requirements the workshop can be delivered over one, two or three days. By the end of the workshop the participants will have knowledge about:

  • Identifying people who have been traumatised and understanding the potential impacts of this trauma on them as individuals.
  • How trauma might affect the service that is being offered in the project and how the project may need to be flexed in order to accommodate and best serve people suffering from trauma.
  • How to relate to those who have been traumatised, and how to help them
  • The human brain, and how different parts of the brain interact and influence decision making, problem solving, learning, interpersonal skills, and more.
  • The impact of adverse experiences and trauma on the functioning of the brain
  • The relationship between trauma and mental health, including attention to childhood trauma.
  • The additional implications of individual unique preferences regarding learning styles, decision-making, relating to others, team dynamics.
  • Promoting well-being and resilience, in themselves and others

Through participation and small group discussions, the workshop also provides time and opportunities to contextualise the teaching to the specific needs of the organisation and equip the participants to be able to implement the teaching within the work of the organisation.

360Life is a flexible toolset that will help the individual make their projects more effective and impactful by taking account of the needs of people who might have been shaped by trauma.

This training is really powerful. It will change lives in such good ways as people learn to understand and love themselves more.

refugee counsellor J, Uganda

Why

We are all born with a brain. The brain is key to how we function – in decision making, relating to others, processing information, responding to situations and remembering information and experiences. But if we all have the same anatomical brain, why don’t we all respond in the same way, relate in the same way, learn in the same way, reach the same decisions?

Each of us is unique, and we are shaped by our life experiences.  Negative or challenging experiences in childhood and adulthood, traumas and devaluing messages – whether to an individual or a community / people group – are all external factors that impact on our day-to-day behaviours, the choices we make in life, and our mental health.

Many people feel shame about how they perceive themselves and their ability to cope with day-to-day experiences. They don’t understand the reasons behind some of their ‘unwise’ life choices and or behaviour patterns and mental struggles. This can result in low levels of self-worth and self-esteem, which in turn can be expressed as negative external actions or a range of mental health issues.

With the training, I understand so much more about trauma and how it can be hidden away inside but still make a big difference on the outside of someone. I’m now a more effective counsellor in helping families to resolve their problems positively and reduce gender-based violence as a result.

G, traditional chief, Malawi

Understanding how our brain works, which aspects of it are the same and which are unique to each of us, brings a deeper understanding of who we are and why we are the way we are.  It helps us clarify our identity and understand why we make certain choices and respond in particular ways.  Recognising the impact of external influences on how we function can bring acceptance and healing from that shame, helping individuals discover a pathway to a healthier and more positive view of themselves and to start to make ‘wiser’ choices. 

This knowledge also helps participants to understand others better, and to have a greater insight into the best ways to relate to those they are in contact with, whether family, spouse, work colleagues, students or any type of team.

Our prisons are in crisis with so much trauma and mental health problems for the prisoners and the staff. This training has helped us to feel better equipped and informed on an effective way to support the prison community.

M, prison chaplain, Romania

Workshop & Training

‘360 Life’ can be delivered in a variety of styles, including presentations and workshops. These can be to a range of audience sizes across all sectors and are pertinent to people whatever their role(s) within society and their community. The workshops can be delivered as bespoke sessions that are contextualised for targeted audiences and go into greater depth in areas that are particularly relevant to that audience.  Workshops include key tools to enable participants to put the learning into practice in their particular workplace and context.

Information regarding workshop options and pricing available on request.

I am going to be using this training so much in the classroom. It explains so many things about students and how they learn that I didn’t understand before. I will be a much better teacher.

Teacher E, Kenya

Whilst the ethos behind this programme is based on Christian values and teaching, it is delivered in an inclusive style that is appropriate for people of all faiths or none.

The content of this programme has been drawn together from a number of academic sources and influenced by a series of conversations with a range of organisations that the author has been working with in sub-Saharan Africa. Further information on these sources is available on request.

About

Dr Helen Harrison

  • 360Life has been written and is delivered by Dr Helen Harrison (PhD), an expert post-traumatic wellbeing. She has over 20 years of international experience working in the field of humanitarian development across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
  • PhD, awarded by University of Gloucestershire, exploring post-traumatic wellbeing for forcibly displaced refugee women now living in Uganda.
  • Certificate in Childhood and Developmental Trauma, awarded by Beacon House, UK.
  • Helen has delivered this programme to non-profit organisations in Africa, MENA and Eastern Europe, including projects working with forcibly displaced people – both internally displaced and refugees, prisoners and prison officers, children and young women living and working on the streets, and community-based organisations working in both urban and rural impoverished communities.
  • Highly qualified and experienced international speaker, with extensive cross-cultural knowledge.

She brings to the workshops a passion and depth of knowledge and experience that can cross cultural boundaries and make the materials relevant and accessible to a wide range of audiences.

The ‘360 Life’ mission is ‘to educate, equip and empower others to find their God-given identity and wholeness through a journey of trauma-informed healing and wellbeing.’

The‘360 Life’ vision is ‘lives transformed through healing, identity and wellbeing’.

‘360 Life’ training is relevant across many sectors of international humanitarian work, from those working in post-traumatic situations to those focused on longer-term resilience and community-based sustainability. It can play a key role in the development of teams and program deliverers, as well as in the designing of programs to support refugees and internally-displaced people, children and young people living on the streets, communities and individuals who have been traumatised by poverty, violence, and marginalisation.

In other words, it can be applied to 360 degrees of life.

Training Overview