Violence Against Women Counseling Skills Building Course

Nisaa, a Network member organization from South Africa with extensive expertise in feminist- based VAW counseling, conducted this 5-day skills-building course for members.  The training course was tailored for full-time counselors who interacton a regular basis with women experiencing violence. Thirty Network members from Uganda, Malawi, Kenya and Tanzania participated in the training at Metropole Hotel in Kampala from 5th-12th August 2011.

The objectives of the training were:

1) To introduce participants to the principles, philosophy and basic skills of Feminist Therapy.

2) To enhance the basic counseling skills of participants using a feminist approach, including receiving and referring survivors.

3) To identify ways for participants to incorporate key feminist counseling principles and techniques into their work.

Several practical sessions gave the participants an opportunity to practice various skills that would help to incorporate feminist principles into their work as counselors. These included sessions that required the participants to draw self-portraits of themselves as counselors.

This training in feminist counseling was successful in helping participantsto better understand feminist theory;and to heighten awareness of socialand counseling issues. The trainingalso provided an opportunity for theparticipants to practice and refreshtheir counseling skills while identifyingclient’s referral needs.