Centre for Enquiry Into Health and Allied ThemesTraining
Training is an important component of the Dilaasa model. The hospital staffs were trained to address women facing domestic violence. Initially peer to peer training was started. Once key trainers were trained, they were given the responsibility of taking initiative and training their own cadre of staff – doctor for doctors, nurses for nurses, and so on.
By 2004, Dilaasa had received a lot of attention from other public hospitals in Mumbai. The then Municipal Commissioner wanted to replicate such centres across all the Mumbai hospitals.However, this was not a feasible idea. We felt that there was a need for capacity building of staff of other hospitals, who once trained could not only screen women for domestic violence but also provide referrals to centers close by. Thus yet another “Training of trainers” across 5 hospitals
Rajawadi Hospital,Ghatkopar; MT Agarwal Hospital, Mulund (W); K. B. Bhabha Hospital, Kurla and Cooper Hospital, Vile Parle (W).
3. M. T. Agarwal Hospital (Mulund)
4. Cooper Hospital (Juhu)
5. Rajawadi Hospital (Ghatkopar)
The trainings are conducted by trained hospital staff with support from CEHAT Staff.
The aim of the trainings are :-
1. To develop an understanding of domestic violence as a healthcare issue and role of healthcare providers in responding to patients.
2. To build skills in screening women for domestic violence and also provides an understanding about cycle of violence and specific needs of women living in violence homes
2. Training of health professionals on responding to violence against women
By 2005, core groups of trained hospital staff across 5 hospitals had emerged; they had also started conducting orientation trainings/ poster, exhibitions/ pamphlet distribution and film screenings in their respective hospitals.It was around the same time that a group of committed HCP’s came forward to set up the second Dilaasa crisis centre in Kurla Bhabha hospital. This centre is completely run by the hospital with its current personnel and infrastructure.
Establishing a Training Cell (2006- 2009) In order to sustain the interest of the HCPs and formalize their roles a training cell was formed to share resources and experiences of HCPs dealing with domestic violence, as well as provide them with formal roles of trainers with the aim of mainstreaming the training cell in the current health system. The work of the training cell slowly expanded to issues concerning patients in general, whether it was about improving communication skills on the part of the hospital staff, getting together to put forth the problems that they were facing due to lack of basic facilities for the patients, or about demanding a salary revision. Slowly the cell is moving towards ensuring that the public health department recognise it and allocate yearly funds for its activities. The role of the training cell did not only restrict to DV but also were keen to respond to women reporting sexual violence as well and use a uniform protocol for examination and evidence collection in cases of sexual assault.
It was with their enthusiasm and keenness that we implemented the SAFE kit (sexual assault and forensic evidence collection kit). Currently these hospitals are also ensuring that their staff gets trained in not just the use of the kit but also develop a perspective on the issue of sexual violence itself.
Apart from the trainings at Dilaasa training are also conducted to helathcare professionals
The Thane Civil hosptial is a district level hospital which receives numerous cases of all forms of violence agaisnt women such as rape, burns, assaults etc. CEHAT is involved in porviding training on VAW along with Sakhya an organsiation involved in providing counselling services to women facing domestic violence at the Thane Civil Hospital.
A two day training workshop on Domestic Violence was conducted for a group fo 45 doctors of maternity homes and tertiary care hospitals in Bangalore.
CEHAT was invited by The North East Network, (NEN), Meghalaya for a state level workshop. CEHAT conducted 2 days training in 2 regions of the state, Garo Hills and Shillong civil hospital. The training was aimed at understanding the issue of violence against women as a health issue, learning skills to screen women for violence as well as provide basic support to them. This was also followed with a presentation on the newly enacted PWDVA protection of women from Domestic violence act, 2005 and their role in responding to these women. The training was imparted to a group comprising of 50 Doctors, nurses and social workers.
3. Training with Community based Volunteers on Domestic Violence
The women seeking services at Dilaasa had expressed need for support at the community level. In order to be able to meet such a need, we identified one community based organisation (CBO), Navjeet Community Centre. It is based in a slum in Bandra. In 2005-2006 a series of trainings were conducted in order to create a deeper understanding on the issue of domestic violence in the community setting. In the second phase of training, the community volunteers were trained in basic counselling skills. Case studies related to their daily lives were developed and we encouraged the participants to get into the role of a counsellor. Most of the principles, values and techniques related to counselling were woven around the case studies itself. A feminist counselling methodology was specially developed for grassroots workers. This had proved to be a challenge. Issues covered during the training included principles and techniques of feminist counselling, values of a counsellor, techniques/skills in counselling and the like. The coordinator of the community centre has started a counselling centre. Working at the community level continues to be an important part of our activities.
Training methods The training covered issues such as understanding of the concept of domestic violence as a health issue, its consequences on women’s health, roots of domestic violence, patriarchy, role of health systems screening methods, communication skills and eventually how to become trainers. The tools used for training included role plays, case studies, and discussion debates, etc.
This led us to realise that one time training is not sufficient. It has to be a continuous process. Moreover, in order to get more referrals, we also needed to increase the visibility of Dilaasa. We therefore put up posters across the hospital. Both these strategies worked and very soon referrals of cases increased.