By ADEOLA ADENUGA
Nigerians of various stripes: religious, regional and sundry persuasions; especially from the North, turned up in large numbers for the three-day ground breaking grief and trauma counseling training.

The training was organized, as part of a unique collaborative initiative, by the Aart of Life and Murtala Mohammed Foundation, who were responding proactively to the most critical socio-political issue of contemporary Nigeria.

The response from the North was not surprising given the spate of bombings and terror attacks which have occurred mostly across the region, but what made the sessions more insightful were the personal experiences of participants who had been affected by or have witnessed these traumatic and tragic occurrences.

The training attended by representatives from the UN, the Federal Fire Service, National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA), Red Cross, Mental Health Foundation, Live Well Initiative and many other intervention and relief organizations, focused on would-be-counselors, first responders to crises and other people who may find themselves in the proximity of grief and trauma in the course of their work, and may thus need to counsel others.

Counseling a traumatized or grieving person, the facilitators pointed out, is too unique to be left to those not trained in its intricacies.

In his opening remarks, Dr Femi Olugbile, Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Health Ministry, commended the efforts of the Murtala Muhammed Foundation and the Aart of Life Foundation and advised: “We must begin to see grief not just as an individual experience, but also as a collateral loss which necessitates a generalized attention.”

Chief Taiwo Taiwo, founder of the Aart of Life Foundation, gave an enlightening presentation which chronicled how the sudden loss of her only daughter led her to set up the Aart of Life foundation which is promoting grief counseling in Nigeria in concert with partners like the Murtala Mohammed Foundation, MTN and Emzor amongst others.