The Training on Psychosocial Support for Community Practitioners 2016 organized by Thai Red Cross Society and IFRC, Cha Am, Phetchaburi Province, Thailand, on 9-11 Nov 2016. There were 32 participants (Male: 12, Female: 20) actively participating in the training.

The trainees had various backgrounds and levels of Psychosocial support (PSS) from 11 organizations, including Thai Red Cross, Lao Red Cross, related line ministries (Public Health, Social Development and Human Security, Interior: Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, Education: Non-formal Education Department) and civil society organizations.

The contents of PSS training covered 7 topics according to the PSS toolkits of IFRC PS Centre: Crisis events/ Disasters; Stress and Coping; Loss and Grief; Community Based Psychosocial Support; Psychological firs aid and support communication; Children; Supporting Volunteer and Staff.

At the end of training, it was found that participants ‘s knowledge and skills and attitudes about PSS were significantly improved and increased at 85% (70-92 %).  Additionally, the revised curriculum for this training was employed and distributed to all participants.

Next steps:

1. TRCS will be monitoring and following up within 3-6 months with all participants about the update and progress of PSS services from each participant after attended this training and provide.
2. Planning to link PSS activities to be integrated into the existing program in TRCS. The lessons learned and experiences shared in this training will be summarized and translated to develop the PSS web-based learning platform in 2017.
3. A short web story promoting Thai Red Cross’ recent training in psychosocial support, building capacity and extending their services even further across the country, including for migrants. Read more…

Training documents (all in Thai language):

• Module 1:  Crisis events and psychosocial support
• Module 2: Stress and coping
• Module 3: Loss and grief
• Module 4: Community-based psychosocial support
• Module 5: Psychological first aid and supportive communication
• Module 6: Children
• Module 7: Supporting volunteers and staff

Related training documents:

• Community-based psychosocial support: Participant’s book [EN] [THAI]
• Community-based psychosocial support: Trainer’s Book – A training kit [EN] [THAI]