Personal Resources and Empowerment in a Psychosocial Accompaniment Process

An analysis of the psychosocial recovery process of forcedly displaced victims using personal resources in coping and empowering processes is presented in this chapter. Participants were part of a psychosocial accompaniment program conducted by a team of professional psychologists and undergraduate students. The results show that religious beliefs, acknowledgment of moral and practical values, optimism, creativity when looking for alternatives, positive evaluation of adverse situations, good decision making abilities at critical moments, capacity to initiate effective behaviors, survival skills in aggressive social environments, communication skills, and pursuit of effective social support, preserving dignity, composed the personal resources set for the victims. Regarding empowerment the results indicate that there is a different qualitative relationship between the type of accompaniment programs and improvements in collective empowerment.