Program Review and Care for Caregivers Workshop

A 4-days program review and care for caregivers (CFC) workshop was conducted by TPO Nepal at Wild Adventure Resort, Sauraha from 19 to 24 December 2021. The annual program review for 2021 was held on 20 December, and the CFC workshop was held from 21 to 23 December. A total of 34 staff from the TPO Nepal central office and different district offices participated in the workshop.

Care for caregivers is usually provided to frontline workers and people working in mental health and psychosocial support for their emotional well-being, stress management, and burnout recovery who are at risk of facing secondary/vicarious trauma due to the nature of their work. CFC can help them recharge, and they can provide quality services afterward. In addition, the objective of the CFC workshop was to strengthen the team relationship among the staff and manage their stress.

On the first day, a Yoga session was facilitated by Mr. Pitambar Koirala from TPO Nepal from 6:30 am to 7:30 am. It was followed by the annual program review workshop. In the workshop, firstly, a presentation on ‘Outcome Harvesting’ was given by Mr. Man Bhandari from International Alert. His presentation focused on the mapping of outcomes, scoring, and presentation of the outcomes. This was followed by a question and answer session about the outcome harvesting process. After this, the participants were divided into six groups to discuss the outcomes of different projects at TPO Nepal.

On the second day, after the morning yoga session, a warm-up session was faciliated by Ms. Ambika Balami and the workshop objectives were made clear by Mr. Jeeten Rai from TPO Nepal. The second day consisted of activities such as Blob tree exercise, light and lively, body mapping, and closing. At the end of the second day, the participants felt light, relaxed, and connected to each other.

Similarly, the third day consisted of activities such as outcome mapping, body scan mindfulness, sharing, empty chair, light and lively, and progressive muscle relaxation. These activities created a feeling of ease and relaxation among the participants. Participants noted that they felt connected, happy, and cared for at the end of the day. Informally, a Tharu dance was organized in the evening for the participants of the workshop.

The fourth day began with a warm-up exercise facilitated by Ambika Balami. Then, the participants were divided into groups for the Lifeline exercise. In this exercise, participants had to draw the ups and downs of their life since birth in a piece of paper. After this, a Light and Lively exercise was done to release the heavy feeling. This was followed by the Positive feedback session where each participant shared their observation about other participants by writing on a piece of paper in their back. This exercise was helpful to collect good memories during the workshop and share positive feedback among each other anonymously. Likewise, Jacobson’s Progressive Muscle Relaxation (JPMR) was facilitated by Bharat Gautam.

The workshop was wrapped after taking the feedback of the program about the overall experience. “This workshop has made me feel highly cared as an individual”, said Mr. Manil Maharjan, Psychosocial Counselor at TPO Nepal.