The psychosocial approach suggests that although people are affected in many ways,
three areas in particular are affected: human capacity (ie, skills, knowledge, and
capabilities), social ecology (social connectedness and networks), and culture and
values. People need support to enhance both their own and the community’s
psychosocial well being by strengthening each of these areas.
There are a number of approaches that can be utilised here that have already shown some efficacy with
older populations of survivors. One approach that shows considerable promise, and already has a fair track
record is termed the ―Tree of Life‖. The Tree of Life was originally developed as an approach for assisting
unemployed youth. It was adapted to the needs of Zimbabwean political violence victims living in exile in
South Africa in 2002. This process was introduced to trauma survivors in Zimbabwe in 2004 as an attempt to
address the psycho-social difficulties faced by survivors in Zimbabwe, most of whom still lived under threat
and were displaced.
The Tree of Life is a healing and empowerment workshop that combines the concepts of story-telling,
healing of the spirit, reconnecting with the body and re-establishing a sense of self-esteem and community.
This process was developed from traditional ways of dealing with difficult issues in communities amongst the
Native Americans, and shares common features with many similar circle processes (Yoder.2005). It is carried
out over a period of two to three days with a group living and sharing meals together. During the course of
the workshops, it was discovered that the victims are more at ease when they are all from the same
community rather than a group of strangers, this allows them to gain the trust and respect sooner rather
than later. In this way it differs slightly from conventional group therapies.
An initial evaluation of this approach indicated that 36% showed significant clinical improvement, and the
sample as a whole showed significant changes in their psychological state (Reeler et al.2009). More
complete information was available for a smaller sample [19], which showed 39% having significant
improvement. On follow-up, 44% were still experiencing difficulties, with most [72%] experiencing economic
difficulties. On the positive side, 56% reported coping better, only 9% reported health problems, and most
were still connected to the group with which they participated in the process. All felt that that the process
had helped them, had helped them learn new things, and had changed in the way that they felt about their
torture.
A second study showed a stronger effect on outcome (RAU.2009).
Follow-up data was available for 58 cases, drawn mostly from two pre-urban areas in Harare. The sample
was slightly more female than male [30 v 28]. The sample was mostly composed of mature adults [mean
age: 39 years; s.dev: 13.9 years], reporting an average of 2.2 [s.dev: 1.2] human rights violations each. The
violations were serious as can be seen from Table 2.