Manipur violence: Nearly 12,694 displaced children living in relief camps across the state
displaced children living in relief camps across the state, and out of them 100 are severely traumatized needing professional counselling.
According to the data made available by the department of Social Welfare, government of Manipur, there are 12,694 displaced children living in relief camps across the state, and out of them 100 are severely traumatized needing professional counselling.
“A Child may not be traumatized immediately. But that trauma can come up after one week or a month. What we’ve been doing is — initially our counsellors will visit the relief camps.
Whenever they find such severely traumatized children, they will be identified, and taken to professional counsellors. We’ve done this for little more than 100 children. We hope that this number does not increase and these traumatized children can go back to normal very soon.” said Ngangom Uttam Singh, director, Social Welfare department, Govt of Manipur.
Towards addressing the mental health of the displaced children, counsellors are deployed through District Children Protection Offices in every district.
They visit children’s homes, relief camps to give counselling and to identify children who actually require professional counselling. The department has a team of qualified medical practitioners and child psychiatrists working as volunteers who aid in providing professional counselling to those who are severely traumatised.
Child Psychiatrist Dr. Jina Heigrujam who has visited several relief camps to identify children having PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder explains why professional counselling is essential to avoid a myriad of mental health issues from developing.
