‘Tapping’ based therapy is an effective way to relieve trauma victims of symptoms linked to anxiety, depression and PTSD.
‘Tapping’ is a WHO approved, culturally adaptable technique that stimulates the body’s own ability to release stored pain through tapping along acupressure points of the body. The ‘tapping’ technique releases stored anxieties and stresses and relieves individuals from some of the negative emotions and pain that they carry because of traumatic experiences.
Nunca Más has used ‘Tapping’ as a technique to help the Lencas, an oppressed minority group of indigenous people in Honduras, overcome the traumas they have felt because of their experiences with collective violence.
Testimonial Therapy is a cost-efficient, effective and culturally adaptable method that helps victims overcome trauma’s and gain a sense of justice and empowerment.
Testimonial Therapy is based on the idea that retelling one’s story (through the development of a testimony) in a public and ceremonial setting gives victim a sense of empowerment and acknowledgement of their suffering, leading to a greater sense of justice.
Testimonial Therapy places the suffering of the victim in a larger political context and testifying allows the victim both to heal but also to see themselves and their private suffering as an important part of a collective narrative.
Nunca Más will use Testimonial Therapy as a technique to help the ethnic minorities in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe overcome the traumas that they have felt as victims of collective violence.
Watch the videos below to get a better sense of the healing and empowering benefits of Testimonial Therapy.
Filmed and edited by Sofie Roerdam. It was filmed in Uttar Pradesh, India, between November 2012 and March 2013, and the film describes how the Indian organisation, "Peoples' Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR)" works with Testimonial Therapy
This video showcases the Honduran indigenous grouping known as the Lencas performing a cosmic ceremony, an embedded element of the testimonial therapy healing process in this specific case.
The Cosmic Ceremony is a part of the Lenca rituals and was incorporated into the testimonial therapy process to make the approach resonate within the Lenca tradition.
By Germain Priour, Bophana Audiovisual Center and Transcultural Healing Psychosocial Organisation (TPO). It was filmed in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in October 2009, and the film describes how the Cambodian mental health organisation, TPO, works with Testimonial Therapy.
