THE Children’s Joy Foundation Inc. (CJFI) in partnership with the Jose Maria College Foundation Inc. (JMCFI) initiated a psychological intervention for children and the youth who were there at the June 10 raid at the KOJC’s religious compound in Davao City to address possible problems that may arise due to the stress brought about by the incident.
Various psychosocial activities and debriefing sessions were laid out for both the children and the youth—aimed at assessing and addressing their experiences and emotions during the fateful event.
The social workers acknowledged the need to make them express their feelings to unload the emotional baggage that may in the future affect their well-being.
“Partly, we are assessing their emotions and their experiences. The debriefing after the assessment, we conducted debriefing where we address those emotions through counseling.”
“If we look at it, it’s almost one month already, but the feeling of being afraid every time they hear the siren, the motorcycles, the airplanes since we are near the airport it really makes them feel like, “what is this again?” There is fear, there’s nervousness that the police might come back which is really an indicator that our youths who were involved in that incident are really experiencing distress which really affects their wellbeing,” said Ms. Jessielyn Bandalan, Social Worker, Children’s Joy Foundation Inc.
For the children—Bandalan noted that while they had various experiences during the raid, they were still not excused on the stress and the fear that the incident caused them.
“But they were able to see the police, still they are not excused from the stressful experience because we were able to ask them about “how they feel everytime they see the soldiers, the police? (They would answer) we are afraid.”
“There is a need to address those emotions because although we can say that it’s normal to feel the emotion of fear but what is alarming is that until now, the fear is still there, which should not be the case, the kids should feel the peace,” added Bandalan.
If left unaddressed these experiences and emotions might lead to post traumatic disorder and other long-term effects.
“Regarding this, they were not expecting that this would happen in the long run. So, of course, our concern is the children, as they might develop acute stress disorder. If not addressed promptly, it could possibly lead to post-traumatic stress disorder. Concerning what happened with KOJC and the police.”
“The impact is indeed significant because, of course, there were children there, not just children but also adults,” said John Floyd Dumapias, Guidance Facilitator, JMCFI.
Prior to this–the social workers also visited the children at the KOJC religious compounds at the Prayer Mountain and the Glory Mountain.
The youth as well as the adults residing at the various KOJC Religious compounds that were subject to the attack on June 10. These activities aim to help them overcome the fear, anxiety, and distress caused by the said attack with the goal of healing them and bring positivity back into their young minds.
