Resilience and Healing: Addressing Gender-Based Violence and Trauma Among Adolescent Girls in Kenya
The trauma-informed training from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network has significantly broadened my understanding of the many factors that can affect how trauma in children and families manifests and how the symptoms can present. This training has been instrumental in equipping me with the knowledge and tools to create a better understanding in the work we can deliver as a group for FamConnect.
The course, “Understanding the Child’s Context,” has provided me with insights into the multiple layers of research necessary to comprehend the work involved in delivering services to communities, families, and children. To find a suitable intervention, our group should concentrate on establishing a foundational framework. This framework should emphasize the child’s ecology, encompassing the individual child, their relationship with their parents, their family structure and communication patterns, the resources available in their neighborhood, and the broader community-level factors tied to the social and economic influences affecting the child. Such an approach will enable us to create specific domains, goals, and context to our work. Additionally, this will provide us with a structured starting point and a common language for addressing complex issues and making future informed decisions.
Furthermore, recognizing the child’s ecological context is essential in creating a “persona,” as Anuskha Ansal discussed in class. This is where we can consolidate all the research findings from each ecological level. Additionally, supplementing our framework with research literature addressing African cultural beliefs will broaden our perspective. For example, FamConnect highlighted a significant limitation of reducing symptoms related to gender-based violence by indicating that African cultural beliefs contribute to increased gender-based violence. Therefore, extending our literature review and conducting interviews with the teachers and students will be pivotal in enhancing our understanding and considerations when it comes to identifying and adapting a suitable intervention.
Another course that has significantly influenced my perspective regarding our project’s future research is “The effects of toxic stress and trauma.” The main goal of the intervention is to decrease depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms among adolescent girls associated with gender based violence. During the Covid-19 Pandemic in Kenya, toxic stress and trauma has intensified primarily in adolescent girls due to the escalation of gender-based violence. As previously mentioned, a major factor contributing to the high prevalence of gender-based violence is rooted in African cultural beliefs. These traditions reinforce gender hierarchies, leading to the marginalization of women and girls and therefore increasing their vulnerability to violence. The consequences of gender-based violence are not only physical but also psychological, entailing depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms. While the course primarily focused on younger age groups, the information from this course is still relevant and applicable to adolescent girls.
In conclusion, this trauma informed training has helped me understand the child’s context and the effects of toxic stress and trauma. This has equipped me with a better understanding and sense of direction for future research needed for a suitable intervention to address the needs for adolescent girls in Kenya facing gender-based violence.
