Healing Personal Trauma to Restore Communities: Integrating trauma healing for partner staff into recovery programming 

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) works closely with local partners in the CAR—mainly Caritas and the Diocesan Commission for Justice and Peace (CDJP)—in Bouar and Boda. Most CRS and partner staff come from, and experienced the same trauma as, the communities they serve. As partner field agents are from Christian and Muslim communities and also work with beneficiaries with diverse identities, CRS wanted to provide them with adequate support. They are key actors in the emergency response and thus have the opportunity to lead their own communities towards forgiveness, understanding and, ultimately, peace.

Recognizing the positive effects of trauma healing programming, the same approach was taken for emergency programming in Bouar and Boda with partner staff from Caritas and CDJP who would be working with communities and leading Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC) groups as field agents. 

The facilitators chosen to lead the trauma-healing trainings were community members (both Christian and Muslim) who had been serving as trainers and receiving refresher trainings since 2014. Local community members were trained as trainers to ensure that the skills stayed in the community. CRS plans to continue rolling out this social cohesion model through cross‑border coordination. With multiple CAR refugees from Boda and Bouar displaced across the border in Cameroon, trauma‑healing and social cohesion activities—coordinated with CRS staff serving this community—present opportunities to lay groundwork for safe and harmonious returns.