Guided by the National Development Strategy 2022-2027, SOS Children’s Villages Rwanda is implementing Mental Health and Psychosocial Support interventions. SOS Children’s Villages believes that” No quality health without mental Health’’. More investment as set in its call for action covers several activities including promotion, prevention, and response.

In the provision of adequate psychosocial rehabilitation,” a safe and conducive environment is key”. This principle led SOS CV in Rwanda to establish counselling rooms where distressed children meet with psychologists to discuss pressing concerns, find ways of dealing with them through peer-to-peer learning for life coping and saving tips and hence building resilience.
Psychosocial Conversation Support Groups brought up significant changes among children and young people.

Understanding the client’s environment is fundamental throughout the psychological healing process. The essence of Group therapy is to create a safe and confidential space. A place where the children develop a level of trust that makes it possible for them to be honest, express freely and share their thoughts and feelings.

It gathers a certain number of children ranging between 8 to 12. They meet once a week upon the contract agreed upon with the group facilitator/a psychologist. Such group therapy calls upon various child-friendly games that allow children and young people to experiment through trial and error, find solutions to problems, work out the best strategies, and build new confidence and skills. The sharing of lessons learnt around games implies reflection, connection and application to daily life. Such interactive games help children to work out how to gracefully accept both losing and winning, they form a sense of sportsmanship and discipline.

A psychologist facilitating those psychosocial conversations in peer support groups told us that: “Most of the children we admit in such groups came in with interpersonal concerns, emotional needs and problems, children with troubling thoughts and feelings. We receive children and young people who are suffering from loneliness, isolation, and shyness that need a lot of reassurance from others”.

″When I joined SOS Children’s Villages, I was always in struggles with my mates, I often insulted my peers and even my mother, and I got easily angry and couldn’t even perform some domestic chores. I felt worthless. My peers always called me a bastard! I didn’t have hope and dreams for the Future.

I had some feelings of rage, pain mix into a constellation of loss, abandonment and isolation.” When I have to introduce myself to other children, I don’t know what to say, my friends outside the home talk about their parents, the place where they were born, and their parents’ house where they live.’ The children asked, ‘Who am I? Where is my “home”? After one week, the social worker gathered us in a group of 12 children and talked about daily struggles and ways to deal with them. I felt interested and asked her for another opportunity. She spontaneously accepted and since then I felt relieved and started my healing journey in the support group″, John, 12 years.

Throughout the healing journey, children enrolled in peer support groups listen to each other and openly express thoughts and feelings about what others say or do: these interactions give members the opportunity to increase their understanding of “Self and others”, try out new ways of being with others and all of them are committed to confidentiality.

“Group therapy offered us a wonderful opportunity to listen and discover that others experience also similar difficulties, thoughts and emotions. We discovered that we are not alone. We revealed that we have some important things in common with other group members and when others worked or shared their concerns, we learnt much about ourselves because my peers serve as mirrors who reflect aspects of ourselves. We learn new ways of interacting and develop our coping mechanisms.

The support group has rescued me, It was a source of relief: to hear others discussing what they are going through and most importantly the way they tackle issues made positive changes as I learnt a whole range of coping mechanisms for facing my own concerns. She added that: some of those coping mechanisms include: Sharing with my mother, talking to my colleagues, praying, playing with my peers, etc…In my group, we interact freely, I met new friends who understood me. I felt loved and this increased my self-acceptance.

I learnt how my behaviour affects my colleagues. The psychologist helped us to explore alternative ways of treating ourselves & others. Furthermore, I learn how to set goals for my future.”14 years old boy, from a street situation.