Breaking Through the Darkness of Violent Trauma: Difficulties and Challenges of Psychological Support for Human Rights Defenders in China

In China, we are confronted with an area that is not yet fully understood or recognized—psychological support for trauma from state violence. In 2016, I was fortunate to have the support of international human rights organizations, and I joined forces with some like-minded psychological professionals to create a professional psychological intervention team. Our mission is to provide trauma for human rights defenders who have experienced torture and state violence, and their families. Prevention and rehabilitation services. However, with this important work comes a unique and intractable set of difficulties and challenges.

In service, our team is always confronted with an unforgettable fact: all those who receive our services are under constant pressure, and they are constantly facing various new traumatic events, such as broken relationships, forced resignation, Intimidation by the police, being arrested again, etc. These situations make their psychological trauma continue to aggravate. For this, our psychological support services, although helpful to a certain extent, are still limited in actual effect.

To complicate matters further, we believe that the populations most in need of trauma repair are often the most resistant to psychological support. For example, some people who have experienced severe torture and long imprisonment often refuse our services in various ways. Although some people agree to receive psychological counseling, they are often late or absent without reason. Although the counselor understands that this may be a post-traumatic response, this will make the counseling unsustainable in the long run. In some cases, the wife is willing to go to counseling, but the husband interferes not to go to counseling.

In addition, our team also encountered significant challenges in providing services on the ground. When a human rights defender is criminally detained or disappears, it is a deeply traumatic event for their family. In the early days after the incident, they desperately needed companionship. And our counselors may be at great risk when making emergency visits. The police may stop the consultant, register their identity information and track and monitor them, which may bring greater risks to the later activities of the entire project team.

Going a step further, all mental salon activities may be monitored, making choosing a salon location a difficult task. We need to avoid holding events in places that require identification as much as possible, and try to choose places that are crowded with tourists and are not easy to attract attention. Even so, we may be targeted by the stability maintenance department. I remember once in a certain place in the south, we participated in a national violence trauma psychological salon organized by an international human rights organization. Before the event started, we were discovered by the police for some reason. Several policemen knocked on the door and came in to register our Identity information, we will carry out activities under the surveillance of the police for the next few days. Even when everyone was swimming and relaxing in the sea during their lunch break, the police on the shore kept taking pictures with their cameras.

Another serious challenge is the scarcity of professional counselors and their poor understanding of dealing with the trauma of state violence. In China, the vast majority of psychological counselors do not have a deep understanding of the trauma of state violence. They even avoid discussing state violence or political violence, preferring to provide some form of chicken soup for the soul. We have tried to find suitable counselors among human rights defenders who are interested in psychology, and three of them obtained the second or third level psychological counselor certificate with one year of support, but after one year of training, they It is still impossible to listen for three minutes in a simulated psychological counseling scene, let alone provide psychological counseling services, and even simple visit companionship becomes difficult. This means that we are faced with the dilemma of not being able to find suitable counselors when providing services to human rights defenders.

Finally, the security of consultation is also an important challenge we have to face. Counselors are required to keep counseling records, however, in practice, this may put the privacy and safety of the counselors at risk. In practice, we use the time-limited disappearing function of security software like Signal or Telegram, which can only record the summary after the event, and cannot keep all records. The context of consultation is also an important issue. Some human rights defenders do not have their own private space, and must consult online in noisy outdoors or in mosquito-infested parks, which obviously greatly reduces the effectiveness of consultations.

When we visit the site, due to safety concerns, we need to approach them as friends and companions, not as counselors. Although this approach can reduce the risk of exposure, it prevents us from providing the necessary psychological assistance in the first place.

These challenges have not stopped us from moving forward. For each difficulty, we strive to find a solution. For example, we provided participants with a range of training and mentoring to help them better understand and respond to the trauma of state violence. We also hold salons to share national knowledge on violence trauma prevention and psychological care, and help them realize the harm of domestic violence and other behaviors.

We also tried to provide material help, such as recommending human rights lawyers, improving their communication security level, helping them apply for humanitarian aid funds from human rights organizations, and easing tensions among their family members.

In general, the current state of psychological support for national violence trauma in China is full of challenges, which requires us to continuously learn, adapt, and seek innovative solutions. Although there are many difficulties, we know that every effort and progress is a sincere concern for human rights defenders and a light of hope for them.

(Remarks from Yang Zhanqing, the author of this article: I once obtained the second-level certificate of Chinese psychological counselor. A few years ago, I was fortunate to receive the support of an international human rights organization and participate in a psychological support project for human rights defenders. This is a period full of challenges, but profound. Meaningful journey.

Due to safety concerns, I have not shared this experience publicly. However, as time passed, I felt compelled to make a note to share some of my thoughts, feelings and observations during this project. I hope this article helps more people understand the impact of state violence trauma on human rights defenders, and how we can face and deal with these challenges.

It should be noted that for the same security reasons, I have not disclosed any information about the institutions and individuals involved in this article. All names and details have been omitted or redacted to protect the privacy and safety of all participants. I hope everyone understands this and respects everyone's right to privacy.

I sincerely hope this article draws more attention to this issue and inspires us to find better solutions together in support of those warriors who stand up for human rights in the face of state violence. )