Trauma Informed Permaculture, for recovery, regeneration, resilience and healing of the land, people and communities.
Trauma-Informed Approach According to the concept of a trauma-informed approach, “A program, organisation, or system that is trauma-informed: Realizes the widespread impact of trauma and understands potential paths for recovery; Recognizes the signs and symptoms of trauma in clients, families, staff, and others involved with the system; Responds by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices; and Seeks to actively resist re-traumatization." A trauma-informed approach can be implemented in any type of service setting or organization and is distinct from trauma-specific interventions or treatments that are designed specifically to address the consequences of trauma and to facilitate healing.
Trauma-Specific Interventions
For Hope & Healing
Trauma-specific intervention programs generally recognize the following:
- The survivor's need to be respected, informed, connected, and hopeful regarding their own recovery
- The interrelation between trauma and symptoms of trauma such as substance abuse, eating disorders, depression, and anxiety
- The need to work in a collaborative way with survivors, family and friends of the survivor, and other human services agencies in a manner that will empower survivors and consumers
Permaculture Trauma Informed Approach
Green Kashmir uses a multi-disciplinary whole systems approach which includes health and well-being, with targeted interventions to regulate the central nervous system, combined with the modern techniques of mindful breathing, and body awareness through somatic movement for the holistic well-being of people, who then in turn have the potential to heal and restore the land, and the natural environment around them.
In our work we have found that the ravages of trauma on the land, the soil, the environment, the ecosystem, the community, and the people living in a conflict zone requires a gentle touch and a patient, compassionate approach. A framework and system that is time hungry and requires small and slow solutions.
We hope that the scope of this humble foundation for communicating the power of Permaculture to create imaginative solutions in earth and human ecosystems and how the two can inter-relate to create nature-based solutions that are trauma informed for recovery and resilience.
Since 2016 GKPT has been empowering people and building capacity in Kashmir via education in nature-based solutions according to the framework of Permaculture to include healing of the land, people, and their communities, and building resilience.
GKPT Aligns itself with the social and therapeutic aspects of engaging with nature, and growing food. The well-being of people is addressed with nutrient rich chemical free food whilst using trauma informed techniques to encourage recovery of the nervous system in mindful therapeutic ways for those living in conflict zones. By supporting individuals sensitively and compassionately, a window of opportunity is created whereby a human being can make a recovery, normally via the nervous system initially, that then impacts on the whole of their cognitive outlook on life so that healing and regenerative approaches can be embraced to create the new way of living that is required for the health of the planet, its people, and its ecosystems. Regeneration takes place when well human beings interact synergistically with the earth to create more potential that either could otherwise create alone.
The model for trauma informed regeneration and resilience that the GKPT has been working on in the conflict zone of Kashmir is a model that could be of use for guidance, to be adapted to other areas of the globe where people live in conflict. The formula for the way that we worked can be shared in other settings, or indeed GKPT can deliver sessions so that new facilitators can be developed in the given situation.
To support this recovery on a wider level, this change must also come from the top down at policy level, and all future policies need to be land, people, and earth ecology friendly.
Amber making a bold case for Trauma Informed Polices in Kashmir
