Originally designed and facilitated by ESD GLOBAL; This session discusses what professional and personal boundaries can look like within humanitarian aid and in our personal lives. The development of safe and consistent boundaries can build resilience and wellbeing in both teams and individuals. It is often when individuals are not aware of their own boundaries or comfortable enough to express them that they can be more vulnerable to compassion fatigue and burnout. This is an interactive session and requires the team to work on their internal understanding of boundaries and how different mechanisms exist to support them and their empowerment as aid workers in challenging environments. The session uses role play and situational examples to present the concepts.

Humanitarian aid workers are exposed to traumatic situations that they experience first-hand or through other people’s trauma. This can have a negative impact on them and their mental health. This training focuses on Vicarious Trauma, Compassion Fatigue and Resilience. The training explores the meaning of each concept, the reason behind their origin and their symptoms and signs. A discussion on how to prevent ourselves from suffering from them is facilitated, while giving space to the importance of building resilience, both at a personal and professional level. Two concepts are introduced: vicarious resilience and vicarious compassion. They are important processes for transforming difficult experiences into learning and empowering ones. The session is guided by mental health self care and aims to develop tips and guidelines to follow when needed.

Within the humanitarian context we are often exposed to emergency and crisis situations, and it’s important to know how to intervene in these kinds of scenarios beforehand and be prepared. This training elaborates on how to offer psychological support in a crisis situation. We introduce the main steps of PFA and explain how to apply them in an emergency. We also discuss how to help in a responsible way, and how to take care of yourself during an intervention. The aim of the training is to acquire different tools that can be used in an emergency or crisis situation, at work or in another context. To enable the development of these tools, the training facilitates different activities to put into practice your learnings. All of this builds confidence to intervene in difficult scenarios and creates a solid plan to follow.

The session discussed the direct effects of neglect and trauma on child development. It presents safeguarding structures and is presented after prior meetings with the safeguarding officer of each organization that we work with. This session was originally funded by The ACSAR foundation and presents the information in a way to ensure that the participants can fully reflect and embed the learning into their daily activities with displaced children. It provides step by step instructions and resources linking to the organization that it is presented to ensuring all volunteers are fully aware of safeguarding policy and action steps in the future.

This session encourages the participants to reflect on the meaning of privilege and penalty. Through a process of reflection and discussion participants increase their awareness of privilege and penalty as individuals, in society and the systems that shape it. The session includes a range of activities, including individual reflection, group discussion and meditative practice. Having increased their understanding of privilege, participants are given the opportunity to consider how it can be used positively in humanitarian contexts to support and advocate for the vulnerable populations.

The training defines stress, its origins and its different signs and symptoms. In addition, it elaborates on how to recognize it in ourselves, and explains what can be done to stop or prevent it. The training facilitates different introspections and small group activities, which are really helpful to understand the subject and to create a personalised stress management plan. It is very important to take responsibility for our mental health and to ensure that the impact we have on others is positive and does no harm.

The session introduces basic trauma theory and discusses how it can affect the mind and body in different ways, the session includes grounding practices, a safe space meditation and a series of steps to take and contacts if further support is necessary. The main aim of the session is to ensure that the participants are made aware of the effects so that they are able to improve their awareness and understanding.

This session can be delivered over a series of workshops or compacted into one 90 minute session. The session discusses how positive lifestyle choices can be adapted into a busy and stressful lifestyle, it focuses specifically on the symptoms of burnout in Humanitarian aid and volunteering and how to develop an appropriate and individualized self care plan which can act as a preventative measure for symptoms of burnout. During the session, participants are encouraged to reflect on how the attitude, mental health, wellbeing and behaviour of the helper can have a direct effect on the people they are supporting.

This session is designed in collaboration with each individual NGO. The safeguarding policy of the NGO is used to build an interactive workshop and deliver it to the staff members and volunteers. It aims to create a safe environment to discuss the importance of safeguarding and organizational support in humanitarian aid. In presenting the safeguarding policies linking them to international humanitarian law, human rights law within the context that the organization is working ie- laws and existing systems for the safeguarding of vulnerable children in refugee camps within the Greek context. 

This session teaches about the 4 Humanitarian principles and Do no harm. It presents and discusses how the principles of Humanity, Impartiality, Independence and Neutrality must be integrated into organisational decision making within the humanitarian context.

This session examines the existing theories and definitions of gender based violence; delivered by ‘Action for Women‘ founder. The session discusses how GBV is a global problem taking into consideration intersectionality, global politics and socio economic contexts. The session contains guided meditation and grounding practices.

This session is designed to support the development of trust and connection within a team. The session includes a selection of activities ranging from physical and dynamic to reflective and grounded. The activities are designed and selected to encourage and promote communication, creativity, group bonding, physical and emotional trust followed by a safe and principled feedback circle at the end to harbour connection and reflection as a group.

This session discusses motivational drivers behind volunteering and humanitarian aid and how we as humanitarian aid workers must understand the cultural parameters and influences that have put us in this position. Within our sector internationally we must be aware of the history and politics that have allowed the western hemisphere to take a lead within humanitarian aid and how geopolitically we must be self-reflective and understand privilege and power imbalances.

This session uses curricula developed from ESD Global. The session can be combined with the ‘Boundaries training’ as Part 2. As a stand alone session it provides a formula of positive and assertive communication which can be used in personal and professional spaces to limit conflict, establish boundaries, maintain relationships and create a respectful working environment between colleagues, with clients and also with vulnerable communities that are being supported.