Psychological First Aid training in Fiji empowers community-led disaster response

Above: Naqaravutu community members with their certificates after participating in Psychological First Aid training. Photo: Empower Pacific

Pacific Island countries are at the forefront of climate change and are at a higher risk of natural disasters. Given the intensity of cyclones and flooding experienced in recent years in Fiji and the scale of destruction caused, it has become crucial that individuals are well equipped with disaster response skills.

Empower Pacific, with the support of the Australian Humanitarian Partnership (AHP), has been conducting Psychological First Aid (PFA) training throughout Fiji to ensure that when an individual receives aid post-disaster, first responders are also able to provide adequate psychological support. In 2022, Empower Pacific has conducted five PFA training and refresher sessions in communities across the country. 

A three-day training on Psychological First Aid was facilitated by Empower Pacific Labasa Branch for 20 community leaders in Naqaravutu Village, Vanua Levu. The organisation was contacted by Cecilia Banitoga, Founder of the Keisha Maria Foundation, an NGO based in the Naqaravutu community. She became aware of Empower Pacific after seeing the organisation’s 24/hr toll-free Counselling Helpline commercial broadcast on radio and television.

“I went to the office in Labasa and introduced myself and inquired about the support that could be given to the villagers,” Cecilia says.

Above: Psychological First Aid volunteers in Naqaravutu were able to provide support to a family who lost their home in a fire. Photo: Keisha Maria Foundation

“What we noticed in our rural village of almost 300 people, there is no support or knowledge around mental health and wellbeing, and to target these areas is something we as an organisation want to tackle,” she added.

In response to the request, a community training session was organised. Empower Pacific’s Labasa Branch Team Leader, Shobana Indal, says: “It was a team effort to prepare for the training and all Labasa staff used their areas of expertise to help the facilitators embark on a journey to Naqaravutu.”

A few weeks after the training was conducted, a fire destroyed one of the homes in the Naqaravutu community. The home was occupied by an extended family of six with an infant child. Five of the trained PFA Volunteers took this opportunity to practice the skills they had learnt and provide support to the shocked family and community.

One of the key principles of Psychological First Aid (PFA) is to Look, Listen & Link. The PFA volunteers were able to apply this principle by identifying the individuals that needed support, assessing the situation by collaborating with community police officers, and gathering resources and support services available to assist the victims.

The facilitator of the training, Adi Selai Qomate, a Social Worker at the Empower Pacific Labasa Branch said teamwork was key.

“The importance of teamwork being emphasised during the training resulted in their collaborative response after the fire incident,” Adi said.

Understanding how the situation had affected the victims enabled the PFA volunteers to link them to support. This included the leader of the vanua, who engaged with the community and collectively gathered clothes, household items and food.

Co-facilitator, Paulina Talebula, a counsellor based at the Labasa Branch, said that their session with the victims “consisted of group work activities, case studies, the use of role-playing and sharing of real-life situations to help the participants understand the information that was being passed on to them.”

The PFA volunteers believe that they were able to respond to the crisis in an efficient and timely manner because of the training they received.

The men of the village also came together to support the reconstruction of the victim's house. They have also been provided counselling support, and the foundation aims to access the Fire Victims Assistance Programme from Department of Social Welfare to help rebuild the victim's home once the National Fire Authority can ascertain the cause of the fire.

Empower Pacific is supported through the Australian Humanitarian Partnership by ChildFund Australia, as part of the Plan International Australia Consortium.