A workshop to enhance Psychological First Aid (PFA) skills was conducted at Damrivi Foudation on Sunday, 25th August 2024. Dr. Lasantha Wijesekara, Applied Psychologist from the Family Health Bureau, Ministry of Health, illustrated the core principles of PFA. He emphasized the ethical values that PFA providers must embody. His presentation was bolstered by practical guidelines and demonstrations of the types of questions to raise and the body language one must maintain during initial contact with an individual experiencing a psychological emergency.
The second half of the workshop was led by Dr. Malathie Dissanayake, Senior Lecturer at the Open University of Sri Lanka. She elaborated on the complexities of multicultural communities, and how understanding the wider sociocultural context of a victim of disaster is pivotal in delivering culturally sensitive PFA.
