Blog Post I
Before beginning the training, I did not expect how much I was going to reflect on my own experiences of development, and how attachment, trauma, and stress have impacted my own life. Moreover, I realized that in order to understand and empathize with the content of the lessons, most of the time my mind wandered toward my own childhood. Thus, throughout out this training, there were two elements I found most useful and impactful.
First, the trainers mentioned that “when we have been in danger, our bodies remember”. It is a statement, that might seem obvious to some, but I did not grasp that the somatic effects that danger, stress, and trauma can have on an individual are immense. Coming from a family in which there are many autoimmune diseases that come from an unknown cause, learning about the effects of stress, puts a whole new light on how to manage these illnesses and how to provide resources for a better quality of life for people. Notably, in the case of babies and children, I found it interesting how one must not confuse them trying to “manipulate” caregivers but try to understand the origins of the stress and possible trauma. In the case of the NGO I’m going to work with, this is relevant because many children have problematic behaviors at school or are altogether absent. Understanding these behaviors is key for us to try and design interventions that could ultimately have an impact on the individual, which has a ripple effect on its family and community.
Second, the other element that I found impactful was the concept of cultural humility. Due to my previous education, I was never really aware of the importance and influence that culture can have at the moment to plan an intervention for an individual. In the past, I was implicitly taught about the universality of certain interventions, for example, such as cognitive behavioral therapy. Nevertheless, after this training, I learned that there are different ways to start a healing process, it is absolutely significant to keep in mind the culture of the individual because it is going to depend on how to approach the situation. Furthermore, being culturally humble is a concept I have never encountered before. It made me reflect on my own privileges and how they impact my biases, feelings, thoughts, and actions. Also, it made me reflect on the different identities that I feel connected to, and how they might be mirrored in my work. Thus, thinking about the intersectionality of privileges that one might have, is extremely relevant when working with people from other cultures, because it allows understanding and empathy. Without both of those elements, how are we supposed to genuinely help others? Moreover, this is particularly important while working with the NGO, due to the fact that we are working with a population of Native Americans. One must not only be well informed about their culture and community traditions and norms, but if we are aware and practice cultural humility is much more likely that we will be able to understand where the other person is coming from and design an intervention that will be able to actually have an impact on the individual and its environment.
