Feature
Introducing Counselling in a War-torn Country:
Perspectives from Myanmar
By Edwin Briels, Counselling Corner Myanmar
Three years before a civil war engulfed the south-east Asian country of Myanmar, a single student of psychotherapy and counselling was setting out to change his nation’s approach to mental health.
Aung Min Thein, a Burmese master’s student at Western Sydney University, learned of the principles of person-centred counselling in Australia before returning home to set up Counselling Corner Myanmar – an organisation with the aim of improving mental health for the 54 million people in Myanmar.
Little did he know the return of the military junta would upend everything he was working towards, nor would he have imagined to be setting up a counselling industry in a war-torn country or becoming a media personality with regular radio and TV interviews.
Aung Min Thein returned to Myanmar when it was an early democracy with a population full of hope and ambition. Counselling was not widely known and the new government was working on updating the Lunacy Act, a 1930s remnant of British colonialism. Aung Min Thein started offering individual counselling services in Yangon and across the country, as well as training, as he argued, “If we want to improve the mental health situation for the whole country, we will have to build up capacity”.
With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government decided on a full lockdown. The economy collapsed, poverty worsened and many people died. In February 2021, the military junta staged a coup d’état and imprisoned the elected government. The Myanmar population demonstrated for months against the anti-democratic regime, and the military responded with bullets, imprisonment, and torture of the people who simply wanted their democratic rights and leaders.
Aung Min Thein’s partner Edwin Briels, a Dutch national, was running a travel agency and sustainable community lodge in Myanmar. Together with his management team, he decided to use the travel agency resources to provide mental health services through Counselling Corner. Since then, the agency’s offices have been converted into a mental health centre and the travel agency team is working on advocacy, finance and partnerships under Edwin’s guidance. Meanwhile, the team of 14 Myanmar counsellors are working under Aung’s guidance on individual counselling therapy, prevention workshops, training and research.
The journey so far: counselling in a war-torn country
There is little awareness of counselling in Myanmar; no public awareness campaigns, no education in counselling and there is huge stigma and lack of understanding about mental health. This means providers often have to start from scratch and have a holistic look on mental health support in Myanmar. These are some of the approaches Counselling Corner Myanmar has taken:
Individual counselling and psychotherapy: Practising person centred therapy for individual Myanmar clients with issues as relationship problems, childhood trauma, depression and anxiety to severe cases caused by torture in prison or witnessing severe violence and bombings.
Capacity building: So far, the organisation has trained over 500 Myanmar people following a curriculum of basic, intermediate and advanced counselling skills focussing on practical skills development during three-to-six months part-time training. Graduates are working in humanitarian fields, have set up their own mental health practise, use skills in their daily work in HR, medical practice or simply in daily life in their communities.
Workshops: Counselling Corner organises emotional well-being workshops in groups of 20 people to express and share emotions. Workshops are done online or in person. For three years natural clay workshops have been used as a tool to start reflecting and expressing feelings as clay is readily available around the country and cheap. So far more than 15,000 people have been estimated to have benefited from workshops including girls working in garment factories, youth and women nationwide through different organisations.
Webinars and seminars: Counselling Corner gives talks in Myanmar language on different mental health issues from post-partum depression, suicidal ideation and trauma/depression for companies, Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) and the general public.
Research: Each year, Counselling Corner collects data from about 1,500 respondents filling in questionnaires on depression. Together with the Fontys University of Applied Science in the Netherlands, research focuses on depression levels among the Myanmar population. Generally 54 per cent of the population is self- assessed being moderate to severely depressed; the younger generation scores higher.
Advocacy: Through Counselling Corner’s own social media, information on mental well-being and how to stay mentally strong in a crisis situation is given in forms of live talks, pre-recorded messages, and Q&A sessions. This has become more difficult as the junta bans different forms of social media, internet blackouts increase and increased poverty restricts access. Through radio and TV interviews as well as other media, the organisation continues to share resources and tips.
PR and partnerships: To reduce stigma, we aim to normalise talking about emotions. Counselling Corner has partnerships with many organisations to encourage sharing emotions with staff, clients and community. This includes health insurance companies, religious organisations, hospitals, and all kind of civil society organisations.
EAP: Counselling Corner is the local partner for international Employee Assistance (EAP) program organisations like Workplace Options, Konterra and others, taking care of employees of international companies based in Myanmar.
Setting up a counselling industry: There is no counselling association yet, but Counselling Corner organises regular meetings with other counsellors. The Australian Counselling Association’s (ACA) code of ethics, standard procedures and public events for World Mental Health Day are some of the activities the organisation supports, with an aim for a Myanmar counselling association to be founded. The ACA CEO Jodie McKenzie supports this goal through monthly meetings.
Supervision: Counselling Corner provides weekly supervision to all its counsellors and has 4 counsellors trained as supervisors.
Seit Mate Swe program: 100 people around the country are in training to become junior counsellors through training and internship programs, with the goal of setting up their own centres and contributing to Myanmar’s public health. This could be through individual counselling, workshops or through webinars and public awareness raising.
Materials: Counselling Corner has published materials in Myanmar language including a reflection journal, a book on trauma, a memory game based on different emotions, breathing cards and more.
Ongoing Professional Development (OPD) – Counselling Corner Myanmar organises regular training by international experts in topics ranging from child play and art therapy for organisation counsellors and others.
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From Edwin
The journey so far has been amazing and I am very grateful we can give back to communities in this very challenging period. It’s been also a tough one; everyone including our staff is affected by the war; everybody has friends and family who had to flee from violence, injustice and the junta soldiers. Banks blocking savings, currency devaluation of 500 per cent, daily four-to-eight hours of power cuts, rations, constant threats by the military make a very harsh environment for us to operate in.
For the first five years, Counselling Corner was self-funded through own resources as well as revenue from individual and corporate clients in Myanmar. The UN granted us funding for a 15-month project last year, which is ongoing.
Aung Min Thein and I believe one day the war will end. There is a need for mental health support now and certainly also in the future. I would love to see an interactive cooperation with ACA members to help support the people of Myanmar. Possible ways to do so:
- Volunteer as a counsellor for our counsellors (online)
- Give specific training, online to counsellors in Myanmar as part of our OPD program
- Sponsor a scholarship to help more Myanmar people to follow our Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Counselling skills training. For 440 AUD, one person can do a full training, 60 hours (see www.counsellingcornermyanmar.com/education-2/)
- Volunteer and provide supervision sessions to some of our counsellors
- Support individual counselling sessions (the costs to support one counselling session is 18 AUD)
Besides that, we would love to get your input, your questions, suggestions, stories and experiences from similar projects in other parts of the world.
How? Send your questions or comments to edwin@counsellingcornermyanmar.com and I will answer personally in the next ACA newsletter.
More information: www.counsellingcornermyanmar.com