Different forms of counseling may be provided in shelters (e.g. psycho-educational supportive counseling; therapeutic counseling - such as cognitive behavioural therapy; and trauma-informed counseling), based on the identified needs of women, the form(s) of violence they have experienced and resources available. Counseling may also be used in crisis intervention or for longer-term responses to trauma, but requires specialized skills and knowledge. Shelter counselors should have training in delivering the specific form(s) of counseling they provide (UN Secretary-General, 2006b).
Counseling is important to help survivors:
- Improve self-esteem
- Increase coping mechanisms
- Understand what they have experienced
- Overcome guilt
- Express their anger
- Realize they are not responsible for the violence they have experienced.
- Know that they are not alone
- Access support networks and services
Approaches used should be empowering and supportive, respecting the woman’s autonomy and encouraging her independent decision-making, rather than being instructive and telling her what to do (Benett, et al, 2004; UNFPA, 1999).
Counseling should enable women to:
- Learn that they are experts about their own lives and strengths.
- Internalize a sense of individual and collective power.
- Understand their experience as politically oppressive rather than as self-caused.
- Learn to stand together as a community.
- Use tools to better control their lives.
- Employ strategies to create safety and independence.
- Participate fully in decision-making, record-keeping, and setting rules affecting their lives.
- Become leaders and advocates against gender-based violence.