My Nonprofit Reviews

Peaceful Heart Network, is for me an old story that began in 2007 in the DRC when I met Gunilla in the training on "Though Field Therapy", with a tapping technique (TTT) on some specific body areas (points) for a patient concentred on his history or active painful memory.
It was a great experience, I went to practice the technique to confront the theory learned with the reality of my beneficiaries as I was a Psychosocial Assistant at the time in a local NGO in Bukavu City East of DRC which is very experienced in Child Protection and care of children in complicated situations /"Enfants en Situations particuriement difficile" (ESPD)-in french) including children released from armed forces and groups, unaccompanied children, children accused of witchcraft, street children (in rupture of family ties), children victims of sexual violence and exploitation at work, and victims of sex slavery. in general, children affected by armed conflicts and economic marginalization as well as refugees and displaced children from wars in Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, etc.

I started to practice this technique on myself whenever I felt depressed and anxious, I realized that it worked well, I recovered so quickly and completely.
This is how I began to use this technique on patients (children and other patients in our charge/supervised) after obtaining these amazing results.
Every time I used this technique, the results were good. Our beneficiaries became less and less aggressive, more focused, much calmer, slept well with fewer nightmares and insomnia, and had fewer self-punishment tendencies (feelings of suicide or homicide, self-harm, or personal condemnation) which were the major and difficult symptoms to treat with the different techniques and therapies we were using before.
Having seen these results, I reported to Gunilla to thank her and encourage her to train more people in the region. We then formed with her a training duo, trained more than 843 people from 15 women's and youth associations, local NGOs, international NGOs, and state health structures via the mental health coordination and specialized center in neuropsychiatry in the city of Bukavu, territory of Kalehe, Mwenga, Walungu and Kabare in the province of South Kivu then the territory of Nyiragongo, Masisi, Rutchuru, Beni and the city of Goma in North Kivu; two provinces most affected by armed conflicts and violence of all kinds in the DRC since the 1990 and whose trauma rate is very high.
TTT has been a relief for psychologists, sociologists, psychosocial assistants, social workers, Counselors, Nurses, Medical doctors, military and police officers trained in prisons, transit and child orientation centers, support and care centers, shelters for victims of armed conflicts, rape and sexual violence, hospitals, Police and military camps, psychotherapeutic clinics, the process of psychological rehabilitation of victims of wars and sexual violence,...

I have been committed since 2007 to being an ambassador of TTT and Peaceful Heart Network in Africa / in regions affected by armed conflicts; whenever I can carry high the standard of TTT / PHN, I do so because I know well the therapeutic effects and its impact in reducing and preventing the consequences of stress, trauma and depression for people affected by armed conflicts. This is how I was able to train several mental health, protection, and education staff for children victims of Boko Haram in Borno State - North-East Nigeria, in Maiduguri, Hajji camp; in South Sudan, Jonglei secondary Health care, in Lankien, an area affected by intercommunal violence and armed conflicts; in the DRC, especially in Kassai Central while the province was affected by a humanitarian crisis due to the Kamwena Nsapu conflict, in Ituri, South and North Kivu, regions with a chronic humanitarian crisis of more than 20 years due to wars and armed conflicts, disasters, etc.
Recently during the health crisis triggered by the Ebola Virus in Beni and COVID-19 worldwide; we used TTT for stress management during the lockdown/curfew and quarantine period in Uganda, DRC, and Burundi (online and face-to-face sessions in my family).
Peaceful Heart Network, which I got to know through TTT initiated by Gunilla and Ulf, has brought innovation to the world of psychosocial management of acute stress, cumulative stress, PTSD and secondary trauma, and burnout/psychological overload. It is also a key element of personal, inter, and intrapersonal development and so is an important factor in building peace and a healthy environment.

Germando Kagomba Barath,