'I have had little professional preparation and certainly not in terms of how to deal with young people who had been traumatised. It is something I have missed while at work. My job was really aimed at sport for sport's sake and little attention had been paid to the role sport can play in overcoming trauma'. (Anneke van Drimmelen. She worked in the late nineties in a sports development project for disabled in Tanzania).

Contents

It is not possible to offer a sport development worker a ready-to-use method for working with sportspersons who have had a traumatic experience. Every situation and individual is unique. But it is possible to provide some points of orientation and one of the ways in which this can be achieved is by increasing one's knowledge about trauma. What is it? What effect can it have on an individual? How can you recognise it? How can traumas be overcome? Having the answers to these questions will help you to better understand what goes on in the heads of the sportspersons you work with. Some knowledge of trauma will increase a sport development worker's understanding of certain types of behaviour and will also help him or her in recognising problems early and better deal with them. All this is likely to make working in the field easier. We present the most important issues in this section.

• What is a traumatic experience?
• Examples of personal histories.
• What are the effects of a traumatic event on an individual?
• How do you recognise the signs that someone may have been traumatised?
• Working it through: how can a trauma be overcome?
• FAQs and misconceptions about trauma.

Mark Bulthuis

Beware of misconceptions!

We would like to stress that there are misconceptions about trauma which can hinder sport development projects or even lead to damage. Read more in the FAQ section.

Stigmatising effect of the word trauma

One very important tip is connected to the use of the word "trauma" in the field. Various experts counsel caution with the usage of this word. The problem is, when you begin to use the word trauma, you have started putting people in psychiatric and medical categories. This could mean that you will be adding insult to injury by labelling them in this fashion. This is particularly true in cultures that differ from the western ones. People who have psychological problems are already vulnerable and labelling them as traumatised may actually impede their healing process. In short: exercise caution when using the word trauma in the field.

IFRC

The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies publication entitled "Psychological Support: Community-based Psychological Support Training Manual" (2002) also urges prudence when using the term "trauma".

>>>read more about this manual

Mark Bulthuis