"The truth of the Latin American peoples is not in their present oppression, but in their tomorrow of freedom" - Martín Baró J. P.
The psychosocial area of the CEDEHM, under the approach of the theory of the Jesuit Priest Martín Baró, aims to generate safe spaces for individual reflection, family, or community for people who are victims of serious human rights violations, where the processes of recovery and resistance to psychosocial trauma are promoted from the new meaning of identity and recognition of personal and collective resources, through sharing experiences with others who are in the search for truth, justice, and reparation, which leads them to generate strategies and links at the community level, generating spaces of family and social encounter that facilitate the reconstruction of the social fabric.
The psychosocial approach is a perspective that aims to broaden the gaze of psychology by moving to a critical vision, which takes into account the specificities of therapeutic or psychological accompaniment to psychosocial trauma, differing from an accompaniment from an individualistic perspective, emphasizing the impossibility of disassociating the impact of sociopolitical phenomena on individuals. In this sense, victims of human rights violations can understand the context in which these aggressions arise, the role played in it by institutions and the circumstances that help their recovery or not.
We are a pioneer organization in the application of the psychosocial approach in accompanying girls, boys, and adolescents, population groups that are generally invisible by victim care and support programs. Thanks to the incorporation of this approach, our experience has been shared with groups and accompanying organizations, in national and international forums and outreach spaces.
As part of the comprehensive accompaniment to women and their sons and daughters, we provide individual, family, and group psychotherapeutic attention processes. Through individual and family accompaniment, women, adolescents, girls and boys, victims of family and/or sexual violence manage to recover from their emotional and psychological effects caused by the various violence experienced, seeking their emotional strengthening to prepare and face the different stages of the legal processes through which their cases usually go through.
The group processes or “Groups of Reflection” aim to reflect on what it is like to be a Mexican woman, adolescent, girl in a context of structural and political violence, as well as on social constructs, hegemonic and patriarchal structures, feminism in Latin America, human rights, types of violence and modalities. The reflection group contributes to the strengthening of collective identity and the non-privatization of violence.
These spaces are characterized by their trustworthiness and respect for diversity, and aim to have women identify violence in its different forms, stop it, and recover from the damage caused by it. Reflection groups promote women’s empowerment through awareness raising of gender conditions that give rise to family violence, as well as the ways in which it manifests itself.
Gradually, women participants pose possible ways to end violence. Finally, they eventually clearly identify the emotional and psychological consequences of it. Because of their characteristics, these groups are an ideal space for attendees to draw conclusions on how to recover from such effects.
We provide individual, family, and community care to people who request it and who suffer the disappearance of a loved one, in order to strengthen their emotional resources that allow them to face the search for truth and justice. Community psychosocial accompaniments are provided according to three age groups: girls and boys, adolescents and young people, adults and seniors.
We maintain a permanent process of psychosocial accompaniment to the collective of families with missing persons, with an age and gender approach. This process contributes to the consolidation of the sense of collectivity and the analysis of the socio-political context when defining and enunciating the causes behind the disappearance of people. It has therapeutic effects that decrease emotional suffering; promote the reconstruction of family ties and social ties; promote the development of individual potentialities; and allow the restoration of the rights of family members.
We accompany human rights defenders who are at risk, providing individual or collective accompaniments, seeking to promote self-care that allows defenders to reinforce their personal strength; prevent difficulties, tiredness, and emotional wear and tear; strengthen personal safety and self-esteem; facilitate the expression of needs and improve quality of life.
As well, protection mechanisms are sought that allow them to remain within the defense of human rights in safer ways.
We are a pioneer organization in the incorporation of psychological expertise with a gender perspective. Psychological expertise in cases of gender-based violence is an innovative way to show the emotional and psychological harm that violence has on women, girls, and boys. They establish a causal link between violence and the effects of violence and highlight psychological violence.
Thanks to the evidence that these surveys contribute, favorable sentences have been obtained for women, their daughters and sons, in various cases of family violence. The surveys document, with particular emphasis, psychological violence and its consequences on victims, which was previously invisible in legal processes.
Mexico is a country that suffers from a lack of social justice and in which there is still a long way to go to guarantee human rights for all people. Our work is medullary in the demand for truth, justice, and reparation. Continuing this cause is work that cannot cease and doing so requires solidarity and support. If you want to contribute to our cause, you can make your donation through PayPal.
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, we advise you remotely on cell phones: (614) 132.91.04 & (614) 255.03.05, Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm. (CUU).
Av. Juárez 4107-B Col. Centro, Chihuahua, Chih., México, C.P. 31000
Teléfono: (614) 415 41 52
