Journey to Healing: A quick guide

Journey to Healing is a survivor-centred approach which was co-developed with survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in South Africa. It is a peer-to-peer support group model and creates a supportive environment for healing which acknowledges and respects survivors’ agency, autonomy and decision-making potential. It creates safe spaces for survivors to speak out and overcome trauma: a journey from fear to courage, from self-doubt to confidence about their future. The approach primarily supports female survivors but can be adapted for use with male survivors, who may face additional stigma. 

The healing process is a journey that is unique to each survivor. Although the Journey to Healing approach sets out some key steps, it is also organic and the pace should be set by members of the support group.

It typically follows the following steps:

1. Engage with community actors, including leaders, faith leaders and potential survivor champions, to understand who may influence the success of Journey to Healing.
2. Assess the SGBV issues specific to the context.
3. Support faith leaders, envisioning them and using holy scriptures to understand general and context-specific gender issues. 
4. Invite survivors to a three- or four-day retreat, as soon as possible. The retreat is where they are able to begin healing and start to dig deep into their trauma. During this time, some survivors are selected to be ‘champions’ who will lead the groups. 
5. Train survivor champions, using the manual A shared journey. Over a one-year period, survivor champions refine and embed their own interpersonal skills, values and character.
6. Start survivor groups (about six to 15 members per group, in three to four groups) using the Out of the shadows guide. As more survivors express an interest in joining a group, and as survivor champions become more competent, survivor champions establish new groups. This usually happens after one year of development. 
7. The process continues, growing organically to support more survivors. This is the beginning of a network.

The outcomes of this process are:

1. Survivors are able to put into words their personal experiences of SGBV.
2. Safe space is created so that survivors can rid themselves of shame and guilt, and move toward self-acceptance and new experiences.
3. The ultimate goal is that healing begins and the survivor finds new strength.