In 2007, I participated in an International Trauma Studies Program co-sponsored by the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization of Uganda. The focus of the program was on psychosocial and mental health interventions in countries affected by war, violence and natural disasters. The program promotes the Training of Trainers model for healing the affects of trauma. The model was used in Uganda and may be appropriate for healing the affects of racism in the United States.
At that time, the Ugandan leader, Joseph Kony, and the Lord’s Resistance Army were terrorizing northern Uganda. Human rights violations were rampant. Approximately, 60,000 children were thought to have been abducted and recruited as child soldiers. The LRA’s raids and looting were traumatizing the population.
The Relationship between Trauma in Uganda and the United States
The United States is also experiencing trauma. The murder of the black man, George Floyd, by a white police officer, Derek Chauven, has torn our country apart. This gruesome event in May 2020 reminds me of my experiences in Uganda. I wonder whether the training I received in Uganda could help to heal the affects of racism in the United States today.
The Training of Trainers Model (TOT)
From the perspective of the cascading “Training of Trainers” (TOT) model, we learned how to train teams to help their communities recover from the affects of violence and war. For example, we learned how to assess the needs of a training group and how to develop curricula targeted to those needs using techniques such as drama, role play, media, music, and story telling.
The Use of the TOT Model to Heal the Affects of Racism
I can envision the use of the TOT model to establish multiracial community teams composed of educators, clergy, police officers, politicians and others. These teams would initiate community assessments and develop curricular for implementation in the respective sectors of their communities. The approach would not merely address the results of racism as much as its underlying causes. Bringing multiple races from within the community together would result in better understanding of their similarities and differences. If the cascade was successful, gradual change in community attitudes and degrees of cooperation would occur.
Images of Uganda Where The TOT Model Was Used to Heal the Affects of Trauma