Diagram One: IASC Intervention pyramid for mental health and psychosocial support in emergencies. Specialised services Focused, non-specialised supports Community & Family supports Basic Services Using this pyramid to illustrate different levels of need, IASC emphasise that the majority of people, forming the broad base of the pyramid, will move on after conflict and life-threatening events without the need for external help, particularly when some aspects of their lives return to relative normality. This includes the restoration of services, returning to school for children, being able to earn a living again and the resuming of community meetings and church gatherings. Papadopolous, Mollica and others emphasise that we tend to under-estimate people‘s resilience and capacity to self-heal in the face of events which horrify us and therefore create an expectation of long term psychological damage and trauma. It is also important to note, however, that in Zimbabwe it has often been the case that dislocation of services, displacement and loss of livelihood have been ongoing, because of the economic collapse and continued conflict; many of the victimised have not been able to pick up the threads of their lives, particularly the crucial economic ones. It also seems to be the case that there is an need, at every level, for stories to be told and acknowledged, for relationships to be reestablihsed, and for local systems of justice, where possible, to attempt to right some of the wrongs that have as yet gone unpunished. In Zimbabwe, the role of religious groups and their spiritual rituals and practises can hardly be over emphasized. At the next level of their pyramid, IASC identify those who will recover with support from their families and communities, and above them, more vulnerable community members (such as elderly people on their own, child headed households, women subjected to sexual assault) who may need additional support, either of a practical or therapeutic nature, or both. It is at this level, as well as on