2 February 2021, Pokhara: Advocacy Forum-Nepal and Conflict Victims Society for Justice (CVSJ) -Nepal jointly organized a three-day long psychosocial and stress management workshop on 30 January-1 February 2021 in Pokhara, Nepal with an objective of healing psychological pains and sufferings and stress management. For over more than twenty years, conflict-victims have been forced to suffer alone. Although conflict-victims are determined in their persistent fight for truth and justice, they have faced multi-layer hardships. Of all issues, psychological trauma and stress are one of the most prominent. The mired transitional justice process, the uncertainties of truth and justice caused by a deepening culture of impunity, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has compounded their wounds and sufferings.
The workshop was led by a senior psychologist, Karuna Kunwar. A total of 42 victims from Gandaki Province and other parts of Nepal attended the workshop. Victims and their family members who attended the training acknowledged the need for a series of psychosocial counselling to cope up with the prolonged trauma caused by the conflict, and for normal psychological and social functioning.
The workshop was supported by the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD).
