ACN International Affairs Consulting AB conducts global consultancy on trauma, human rights and international humanitarian law education, societies going from authoritarian regimes to democratic governance, trauma interventions, political violence and terrorism and susceptibility of youth to violence, public health issues, transitional justice issues, children and youth in armed conflict, lectures, public speaking, workshops and interventions.

Trainings, Interventions and Workshops

1. Workshops for children and adolescents (which for children includes Angelbear Yoga-”Where the Heart Lights the Way”: The rationale behind the workshops is: What is strength? What does being powerful mean? Training in tolerance, strength, peaceful behavior

When one lives in an environment where one is faced with guns, attacks, and shootings, many times the person with the gun is defined as the one being powerful and strong. Power comes from the outside, and someone else is defining who you are, how your words and actions are to be interpreted. It is easy to get lost in such an environment and get confused, all the while when at the same time people might feel vulnerable, helplessness, powerless and worthless while simultaneously being strong by having to live through such situations. As a result there is a great need to heal beliefs of being helpless, powerless and worthless, and to re-think the concepts of power and strength.

The idea with the workshop is to give training on issues of tolerance and power for children and adolescents. In this workshop we examine questions like: How do you define tolerance? What does it mean to be powerful? What does strength mean? How do you characterize peaceful behavior?

The rational behind the workshop and training is that when a person grows up and lives in an environment of armed conflict and is confronted by weapons, attacks and shootings it is easy to get lost in all that violence and get confused. To carry a weapon in such environments many times defines a person as being powerful and strong. While at the same time many people feel vulnerable, powerless and as a person of not much worth.  Many times an undercurrent of anger exists because the feelings and thoughts of the children and adolescents are seldom taken into consideration, or is the source of the anger not necessarily understood by the child or adolescent herself/himself.

To feel vulnerable and powerless is not the same as actually being vulnerable and powerless. Also, children and adolescents show a great sense of resistance and a very strong will to live just by living through these challenging circumstances. It is necessary to acknowledge this resistance and powerful will to live as building stones to live a positive and productive life, which would be beneficial for their communities and countries.

The reason for the workshop and the training is to take the insecurities, the questions and the experiences of children and adolescents seriously. The intention is to discuss these issues with the goal to find a way to heal beliefs of being worthless and powerless and to find and/or reclaim the positive traits and value of one’s own culture and traditions. Another reason is to provide a deeper understanding of issues concerning tolerance, strength and power, such as in contexts of different tribal and ethnic groups fighting each other.  The final reason is to find a clarification in the confusion that exist, and to build the strength within and strengthen the capacity of children and adolescents express themselves positively so that they can feel supported to live a life with a great purpose.

Yoga is one component of the workshop and issues like compassion, identity and power – “what does it mean to be powerful in a context of weapons and war?” – need to be discussed. I also believe that it is necessary to introduce new ways of thinking especially in a place where there has been a long-term armed conflict, and yoga is such a new concept that is at the same time about a 6.000 years tradition with a well-known workable structure.

My intention with doing yoga in a war situation is precisely because of issues such as what does being powerful mean – what does it mean when one says “power comes from within?” in a context where weapons, violence and killings are going on an almost daily basis, and also where issues such as respect and compassion are not always valued anymore, and also where for instance for parents it can be very difficult to uphold such values with so much violence going on. Other issues in such contexts are that boundaries are broken down in so many ways, and here issues like identity and respect can be brought in. Further many children over the world in war situations do not see longer than maybe at the most two weeks ahead – so then what does the “future” mean for them? I have been writing about these issues in my forthcoming book. And when talking about the future, how can then children think in terms of preserving nature for future generations or even for the next month?

Angelbear Yoga brings forth the message of yoga in a very kind and positive way and also in a very practical way, and in my view love and gentleness need also to be re-introduced in such contexts.

TRAINING CERTIFICATE

“Where the Heart Lights the Way”:
Angel Bear Yoga Training Program, Bringing Children’s Yoga into Your School/Community,

Training to be included for workshops for children in armed conflict areas. This training is also designed to teach children to respect and protect nature and the environment.

2. Trauma Interventions

Trauma interventions for children and adolescents, as well as trauma interventions on sexual violence in armed conflict – (these can be adapted for adults)

These interventions include the application of Children and War, Teaching Recovery Techniques, by Patrick Smith Institute of psychiatry, London, England, Atle Dyregrov, Center for Crisis Psychology, Bergen, Norway, and William Yule, Center for Crisis Psychology, Bergen, Norway, in co-operation with Leila Gupta, Sean Perrin, and Rolf Gjestad, Children and War Foundation, Bergen, Norway, (1999, revised 2002), and the Workbook for the Children and War manual, Prepared by Ayse Yalin, Bergin Levent and Nazan Kaya in association with UNICEF following the earthquake in Turkey in 1999 to accompany the manual Children and War, modified on the basis of the Children and war manual written by Patrick Smith, Institute of Psychiatry, London, England, Atle Dyregrov, Center for Crisis Psychology, Bergen, Norway, and William Yule, Institute of Psychiatry, London, England, in co-operation with Leila Gupta, Sean Perrin, and Rolf Gjestad, Children and War Foundation, Bergen, Norway (2002), link www.childrenandwar.org

Certificate of Participation in Trauma Recovery Techniques for Children, Attended Workshop in Trauma Recovery Techniques for Children and Adolescents, November 20-21 2009, Nairobi, Kenya
Given by Atle Dyregrov, PhD, Director, Centre for Crisis Psychology, Bergen; Norway, and William Yule, PhD, Kings College London Institute of Psychiatry, UK, The Children and War Foundation, Bergen, Norway