Empowering women through feminist counselling in the Philippines. (Service).

Since 1989, the Women's Crisis Centre (WCC), a non-profit non-government organisation in the Philippines, has been providing holistic services to women survivors of gender-based violence. It started as a response to the needs of women survivors of military rape and sexualised torture during the Philippines' martial law years. A group of former women political detainees banded together as an informal support group and were soon joined by other women political activists and survivors of gender-based violence. These like-minded women then took the risk of establishing the WCC to address the need for a safe and supportive environment. Its values, principles and mission are based on the belief that women have a right to choice and given the needed support, can take control of their lives. It also introduced feminist counselling, which involved the application of feminist principles and processes in counselling practice, in the Philippines.

Generally, there is a lack of understanding on the plight of abused and exploited women. A feminist action research conducted by the WCC in 1998, The Impact of Violence Against Women on Women's Health, revealed that the perceived consequences of sexual assault on women's mental health far outweigh the direct and immediate physical effects of the assault. Depression, anxiety, fear, loss of self-esteem, anger, hostility and distrust rank high as the common effects that have disrupted survivors' everyday lives. Lack of knowledge on the dynamics of gender-based violence is a barrier to service agencies, family members and the community in offering effective and timely assistance, further compounding the problem. At the core of the Crisis Intervention Programme of the WCC are feminist counselling services. Trained feminist counsellors help the survivors address the symptoms and effects of trauma such as getting rid of negative emotions of fear, shame, self-denial, guilt and self-blame. The women are made to understand that violence against women happens because of society's support of the power inequality in gender relations that results in the subordinate position of women in society. Feminist counselling's ultimate goal is to empower women and make them advocates for change in existing social values and attitudes that breed and promote gender-based violence.

Feminist counselling in the WCC is done through a hotline service and individual or group counselling sessions. Some women may initially be more comfortable using the hotline, whereby information is obtained and the woman's safety and immediate needs are assessed and addressed. The counsellor informs her of possible options, what she can do and where she can go. If her safety is at stake, then she is admitted to the shelter. Individual face-to-face counselling may consist of six to eight sessions over six months. Women victims of gender-based violence would come to the centre doubting their sanity because of their responses and feelings of fear and helplessness. While the initial session may focus on the woman's immediate needs like safety or medical needs, consequent sessions deal with her history of abuse. The counsellor helps the woman to identify the problems and broaden her concept of gender-based abuse and violence. She is assured throughout that her responses are normal in an abnormal situation. The counsellor reveals her values at the start and imparts information and concepts to the woman. Both of them analyse the problem and situation together. Options are presented to the woman and she is allowed to choose the one that she thinks is best for her. Her decision is upheld as feminist counselling believes that the survivor is the expert of her experience and is capable of handling and resolving her problems with the proper support.

Group counselling is usually done under the WCC's Survivors Support Group Programme (SSG). Aimed to provide primarily mutual support, it encourages survivors to share their views and feelings on their experiences and analyse their situation with the facilitation of a counsellor. Activities in the SSG include education and training seminars and workshops that prepare them to be advocates for social change. Survivors have also been actively involved in researches done by the centre. They were involved from the stage of research design up to the final validation of results. Using feminist counselling skills, the counsellors and survivors came up with data that are now being utilised for advocacy purposes. For women whose safety is at risk, lack the necessary resources and have nowhere to go, the WCC offers a temporary shelter, which is a safe refuge where women survivors and children are assured of emotional support and other services. Violence is not permitted at the shelter. The needs of the women's children, who are the secondary victims of gender-based violence, are taken care of through counselling, educational art and play therapy.

To provide holistic services to survivors of gender-based violence, the WCC conducts other service programmes that aim to create an enabling environment for the women's recovery and healing. Aside from feminist counselling, services in the Crisis Intervention Programme (CIP) include:

* The Medical Programme, which helps those who need medical check-ups, tests, accompaniment to clinics, crime laboratories and medico-legal offices. It also provides Stress-Tension Reduction Therapy that addresses post-trauma pain and discomfort.

* The Legal Programme, which provides legal information, referrals and accompaniment.

* The Survivors' Support Group, whose activities promote personal support and empowerment, include group counselling, stress management, skills development, education and training.

The Crisis Intervention Programme is complimented by the Education and Training Programme and the Research and Documentation Programme. Both are housed under the Raquel Edralin-Tiglao Institute for Family Violence Prevention. All the programmes complement each other in helping the women heal from the trauma of gender-based violence. The WCC does not stop at providing only services. To raise public awareness and carry out its commitment to advocacy, the WCC has undertaken special projects that support and multiply its pioneering efforts in effecting social change and transformation for gender equality and elimination of all forms of violence against women. These projects include:

* Project HAVEN (Hospital Assisted Crisis Intervention for Women Survivors of a Violent Environment)--As part of the WCC's efforts to institutionalise gender-sensitive services in the health care system, it collaborated with other women NGOs in pioneering the setting up of a hospital-based crisis centre in the East Avenue Medical Centre, now known as the Women and Children Crisis Care and Protection Unit (WCCCPU). It is being replicated nationwide in public hospitals.

* National Family Violence Prevention Programme--The WCC coordinates this nationwide campaign with 17 NGOs and government agencies involved in the prevention, intervention and elimination of family violence. Communities are mobilised to address family violence prevention in a comprehensive and coordinated manner.

* Raquel Edralin-Tiglao Institute for Family Violence Prevention--The training and resource centre of the WCC was named after its late executive director, a feminist and human rights activist who introduced feminist counselling in the Philippines. The institute shares the WCC's knowledge and skills with other organisations through training and publications. Various agencies have sought the WCC's help in training and studies on preventing family violence, setting up and managing crisis facilities, and feminist approaches in crisis intervention.

* Expanding Women's Access to Information and Capability on Sexual and Reproductive Health project--As part of its vision of a just and humane society that empowers women, the WCC joined an alliance of women's organisations and individuals focused on creating an enabling environment for women to access quality reproductive and sexual health services. Current work includes a research on the reproductive health needs of abused women.

In a 1997 general assembly of the women who had used the WCC's services, the women collectively described how they felt about the centre. Their situation was akin to falling into a bottomless well until they went to the WCC for help. It was with them in every step that they took in climbing out of the well. Every step presented a discovery and they learnt to understand their situation and realised their capability to change it with the centre's support and encouragement. They were then able to claim their rightful space again and assert their rights. Upon getting out of the well, the healing and recovery led them to empowerment. With newfound strength, they felt morally obligated to help other women reclaim their rights too. They saw themselves as transforming from victims to survivors to advocates. The WCC looks forward to the moment it can work together with the survivors as fellow advocates.

For more details, please contact Salvacion Baaco-Pascual, Research/Resource Coordinator, Raquel Edralin-Tiglao Institute for Family Violence Prevention, Women's Crisis Centre, 18 Mapagkawanggawa Street, Sikatuna Village, Quezon City 1101, Philippines; Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; E-mail: <[e-mail]>.