Red Cross hosts sessions in psychological First Aid |03 April 2020
Mr Tamatave leading the session yesterday (Photo: Joena Meme)
The Red Cross Society of Seychelles (RCSS), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MoH), is conducting a series of mini-training sessions for volunteers in COVID-19 and Psychological First Aid.
Psychological First Aid is an approach used to help people who have been exposed to a disaster or traumatic event. The objective of the training sessions are to prepare the volunteers mainly in psychosocial First Aid in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The training of the thirty-five or so volunteers from RCSS, local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other volunteers is being held at the Blue Roof building, at the MoH, Mont Fleuri.
The president of RCSS, Kisnan Tamatave, said that with many requests by people wishing to lend a helping hand, such trainings are necessary to anybody working under the umbrella of the RCSS.
He noted that the training will help them to be able to help administer Psychological First Aid should the MoH requires, especially during the contact tracing exercise in relation to COVID-19 where such psychological support is necessary in light of fear of the virus.
To minimise the risk of COVID-19 transmission, the training sessions have been spanned over four days, starting yesterday and ending on April 7, 2020, for groups of eight participants for each session.
The Psychological First Aid session is being conducted by the former secretary general and member of RCSS, Colette Servina, while Anita Bonne from the public health is holding sessions on contact tracing in relation to COVID-19.
These sessions also include briefs on the Red Cross movement.