Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities (HROC) is a specialised workshop for trauma, developed in 2003 by AVP facilitators in Rwanda and Burundi.

The HROC programme (pronounced HE-rock) assists communities in learning to live together again after extreme violence e.g. the genocide in Rwanda and the Post-Election Violence in Kenya.

This three day workshop aims at helping people

• recognize and understand trauma and the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• learn how to access skills to overcome trauma
• re-engage with life after a traumatic event
• re-connect with community members and rebuild their societies.

In 2010 an initial team of HROC facilitators were trained in Nairobi, and began establishing and deepening the programme in this area.

In addition to attending HROC workshops, participants are assessed for levels of trauma and all are offered free counselling with specialized trauma therapists trained in Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR).

The video below introduces some of the facilitators, who share the healing they experienced personally:

HROC is based on the following principles:

1. In every person there is something that is good.
2. Each person and society has the inner capacity to heal and an inherent intuition of how to heal from trauma. Sometimes the wounds are so profound that people and communities need support to re-encounter that inner capacity.
3. Both victims and perpetrators of violence can experience trauma and its after-effects.
4. Healing from trauma requires that a person’s inner goodness and wisdom is sought and shared with others. It is through this effort that trust can begin to be restored.
5. When violence has been experienced at both personal and community levels, efforts to heal and rebuild the country must also happen at both the individual and communal level.
6. Healing from trauma and building peace between groups are deeply connected. It is not possible to do one without the other. Therefore trauma recovery and peace building efforts must happen simultaneously.

HROC workshops are three day experiential workshops, modelled on AVP workshops. They deal with personal and community trauma from violent conflicts in the region.

If you would like to participate in any of our workshops, please contact Wambui Nguyo : 0723 929627 / wambui@avpkenya.org