Facing Trauma: Discover the stories of Ezra, Elias, Atid, Satya, Samir, and Viktoria

The Comic poster illustrates the storylines of the six main characters from the toolkit on trauma-informed youth work. The full storylines of the characters can be found in the appendix of the activity bundle.

Possible topics to discuss for each storyline:

• Blue: neglect, psychologist, loss of a loved one, responsibilities, reading …
• Red: natural disaster, friends, hobbies, refugee shelters …
• Yellow: disasters, siblings, nightmares, secondary trauma, vending on the market, knitting …
• Green: reunification, youth care facilities, refugees, board games, separation …
• Purple: war, singing, social media, seeking shelter, separation from family …

This game is part of the Trauma-Informed Youth Work toolkit, which is designed to create a safe, supportive environment for all participants by acknowledging the impact of trauma on young people and fostering trust and empowerment. By incorporating activities that use indirect methods to explore emotions and behaviours, the toolkit makes sensitive topics more accessible and less intimidating, especially for younger audiences. The teamwork aspects of these activities foster collaboration and support, aligning with trauma-informed principles. This approach promotes healing, resilience, and positive development in every youth engaged, while emphasizing emotional awareness and understanding.

• Use the arrows on the left and right side of each storyline. Ask the children to think about what will happen in the future or what happened in the past for the six main characters of the poster. What will they do in the future, when they grow up? What will they become? How will certain storylines evolve in the future? What did you think happened to each character before the story on the poster began? What kind of experiences might have shaped who they are now? Can you think of any events or people in their past that might have influenced their current life?
• Listen to one of the audio stories and let the children vote on which character they think the story belongs to. This can be a fun way to test their attention and understanding of the storylines.
• After listening to the story, engage the players in identifying and discussing the sounds they can "hear" in the pictures:

o Which picture can you "listen" to a sound?

o How many city sounds can you identify?

o How many nature sounds can you identify?

o Are there any sudden sounds? Playful sounds? Funny sounds? Songs?

o What sounds would you like to hear when facing a difficulty (e.g., music, birds, voice of friends)?

o Which of the sounds makes you happy? Which ones give you strength? Which ones make you upset?

o If you had to choose three sounds, which ones would you choose and why?

• For young players, you can focus on the details in the illustrations. Ask them specific questions to let them scan the full poster:

o How many vehicles do you see in the picture?

o How many people are wearing something on their heads?

o How many different things do you see that people are wearing on their heads?

o Can you count how many people you see in each story? In the whole poster?

o Can you check who looks happy, sad, angry, or afraid?

o How many different colours do you see in the clothes?

o In how many ways are people moving? (on foot, in a wheelchair, by car, etc.)

• Practice listening and comprehension skills through audio and visual storytelling.
• Practice empathy and personal connection by relating to the stories of the six characters.
• Learn to be creative