The Effect of 360 Life Training Skills - feedback from India

 [this blog has been written by Janaki, a friend from India who is director of a school where I delivered 360Life training last year. It is humbling to read what follows. The child's name is changed but permission has been granted to share his photo]

In October 2025, 360Life ( Identity • Healing • Wellbeing )Training was done by Sis Helen Harrison in our school. After that, God spoke to me to give quality time to the school children also and to mentor them for their bright future. 

Sis. Helen taught us that every behaviour has a reason behind it. She taught us the 360 Life Skills - how to observe the child completely, how to understand the pain behind the anger, how to listen without judging, and how to respond with love and patience.

Before the training our teachers and I used to counsel and care for children with different attitudes in our school. We never ignored any child. We always tried our best to council them with love.
But after the 360 Life Training everything changed. The training made us more active and more accurate.

Before training we cared. After training we understood HOW to care effectively.

This change is not just seen by the teachers in our school, but I have personally experienced it as well. I have seen some truly amazing transformations with my own eyes, and I would love to share a few of those precious stories and change

 

*The Story of Vikram - When Comparison Becomes a Wound*

Vikram is just 10 years old, studying in 5th class.
At home, his parents complained about him every day. They would say very harshly, "He behaves very rudely at home. We cannot bear him anymore."

But the same Vikram was a different boy in school. He was a smart, well-behaved, he studied well, he got good marks, and he was a favourite of all his teachers. The teachers could not understand - how can a boy who is so good in school be so rude at home?

But behind the walls of his house, there was another painful truth that no one knew. Every day, his parents used to beat him very severely at home. I will not describe here, but it was very bad beatings.

Once, when teachers tried to talk to his mother about this, she turned against the teachers and shouted at them loudly in reverse. Because of that, the teachers became afraid to talk to his parents again.

All these matters came to me, the school director, through the teachers. When I called that little boy and looked at him, I felt so much pain in my heart. I asked him lovingly, "What happened Vikram?"

He did not speak anything at first. He was completely silent. But I did not give up. With the patience and skills I learned from the 360 Life Training by Sis. Helen Harrison, I continued to talk to him slowly, day after day, without forcing him. This all happened in the first week of November 2025.

One day, while we were talking, suddenly Vikram held me tightly and started crying loudly. That was the first time he opened his heart. Slowly, through tears, he started telling his story.

"They always compare me with all other children," he cried. "They say, 'Look how they are and how you are.' They keep insulting me, saying I am good for nothing. They beat me saying I am not like others."
That was his real problem.

 Actually, Vikram was a good student. He was getting good marks. His behaviour in school was very good. But his parents were never happy with that. They always praised other children in front of him and insulted him saying, "Giving you food itself is a waste." And if he cried when they insulted him like that, they would beat him even more. So sad. So painful for a 10-year-old heart.

I hugged him and told him, "I will talk to your parents. Don't cry Vikram." I counseled him with 360 Life Skills - with love, with affirmation, telling him that he is unique, he is precious, and God has made him wonderfully. Slowly, he became strong. His confidence came back.

At that same time, we had a School Parents Meeting. Nearly 500 parents came to that meeting. Vikram’s parents also came. In that meeting, I was speaking about the 360 Life Training. I was sharing that "Children are God's gift. They are very precious. We should never compare one child with another child. God has created every child as unique and special."

While I was speaking those words, something unexpected happened. Suddenly, Vikram’s mother, who was sitting in the crowd, was filled with tears. Her eyes were full of water. She started crying loudly in front of all 500 parents.
With a broken heart, she openly said in front of everyone, "Until today, I have done wrong. I have done a big mistake." She was deeply moved and repented. Those words changed her completely.
That day became a turning point for that family.

It has been nearly one year now. Vikram’s parents are both very happy now. There are no more problems between them. That painful chapter is completely closed.

Now Vikram is studying in 6th class with a big smile, with confidence, and with peace in his heart.

This is the power of 360 Life Training. It not only changes children, it changes parents, it changes families.

 

 

Trauma training in Malawi

 

The 360Life training that I’ve just delivered in Malawi has been wonderful in so many ways, as well as giving some valuable insights into the reality of life in this country.

The training was primarily for 45 community counsellors who work across 3 different rural communities based within 30 miles of Lilongwe and are all part of a Malawian non-profit called Abundant Life Centres (ALC). There were also 5 participants from a sister organisation called Seeds of Promise, that also provides community counselling as part of its portfolio of projects, but in a different location to ALC. Both Abundant Life Centres, and Seeds of Promise are partners of Links charity (www.links.charity) and it was thanks to my links with Links (excuse the play on words) that I got linked with ALC and SOP.

The participants included about 10 clan chiefs. These individuals have an inherited role, although they are not always the first born in their family. It is a role that includes a significant amount of conflict resolution as they are called on to help resolve disagreements between members of the clan. These might be around issues relating to property rights, relationship breakdowns, inheritance claims etc. A lot of wisdom is clearly needed to be a chief, and it was very special to have them as part of the training, and just sitting alongside the others, with no sense of hierarchy or expected privilege.

The location for the training was one of the ALC communities, and it was fab to be out in the rural community rather than in a city. It was also really good to be delivering the training at the heart of where ALC started, and to be able to look around at the programmes that are delivered by each of the ALC hubs. These include feeding programmes, empowerment programmes for youth, widows and single mothers, pass a pig forwards, and community counselling. As a result, the background hum to the training was a mix of children playing, goats bleating, pigs squealing and birds chirping. A very rural and beautiful mix!

The training went so well. Yes, 50 participants in a simple brick building with air temperature of late 20’s at least and no electricity for fans or to run a projector does make for a fairly intense time, and required some last minute creativity in adapting my presentation style. But the participation was really good and the room buzzed whenever I asked them to get into small groups to chat about the learning and contextualise it to their situation. 

 

The dedication to the learning was humbling – the groups from the two ALC hubs that were further away came on bicycles. I later discovered that one group came from 20km away and the other from 32km away. So that’s a good 2 hours of cycling, in flipflops, with a sarong wrap around their waste. And they must have started by 6am to get to the training venue in time – what dedication, what determination to receive the training.

As I travel to different countries, delivering the training to different nationalities, I always find it fascinating to see what the different perceptions are about the causes of trauma. Sadly, there are some that always crop up – domestic violence, sexual and physical abuse, childhood traumas. And there are others that become unearthed as participants start to understand more what the concept of trauma incorporates – those hidden away traumas, the ones happening behind closed doors, the ongoing microaggressions etc.

But there are also the traumas that are more specific to one country and the nature of what they are or have recently been enduring. In the case of Malawi, the traumas that were being named as current in the lives of so many are those relating to recent episodes of drought and also to floods that have resulted in ruined harvest, loss of food security, and increased poverty for many. The financial situation for many was also cited – in part due to the food shortages, but also the repercussions of the increase in fuel prices around the world, and due to job insecurities that come through living in a country that is high on the list of countries struggling with endemic poverty. Cyclone Freddy was a specific incident etched on the mind as a traumatic experience. Corrupt politicians and the impact that they are having on the day-to-day function of the country was another issue mentioned by many as causing much stress and upset to all.

And now a big and very stressful situation (which some call traumatic in its repercussions) is the fuel crisis. Essentially the nation has almost no fuel, and so all the petrol stations stand empty except for when the occasional tanker comes through. Cars, motorbikes, trucks and minibuses all line the roads around the fuel stations, hoping to be one of the lucky ones to be able to get to the front of the queue to get fuel when it arrives. Some of the fuel stations run organised queuing systems, but in other places the battle for the front of the queue is less dignified. There is also a growing market in illegally sourced fuel, which is selling at 4 times the price. For those who can afford it, this is turning out to be the preferred way to find some fuel and so keep their vehicles going. But for the bus and minibus drivers, the way to afford it is to put the ticket price up, and so the ripple effect of this crisis goes way beyond the vehicle owners.

Whilst not all of these issues might technically be called ‘traumatic experiences’ in the purest sense of the term, there is no denying the hugely negative impact that they are having on the mental wellbeing of the Malawians. And the lack of light at the end of the tunnel for this country as it battles these issues makes it even harder for them.

Sitting with the participants and talking with them about these issues, and also sharing with them about what it means to have a more trauma-informed perspective in their counselling and programme work, there was no doubt in their minds just how useful and timely the training was. It was an honour to come alongside these wonderful folks, and input into their work in even just some small way, and I pray that through the training, a little more rays of hope will shine in this beautiful but struggling country.

 

 

 

360Life GNG TOT training complete

There were two reasons for me to come to Zambia (well, initially there were 3, but one of them failed to materialise) – one was to meet up with CRED partners Aaron and Josephine from Chisomo. And the other was to deliver a week of training for some key folks from Good News Global (Africa), a faith-based organisation that is made up of prison chaplains across the continent who go into their local prisons, and deliver a range of different discipleship and life-skills programmes to the inmates. Through their work in the prisons they therefore input to the prisoners, but also have many opportunities to speak to the prison staff as well.

Today, I finished my part of the delivery, and what a good week it’s been. The participants were from Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia, and included national directors for GNG from those countries as well as three from the Africa regional office.

All of them had taken part in 360Life training before at some point, and a pre-requisite for this training was that they all did the online video training as well. As a result, the participants were much more clued in about the materials, and we were able to go deeper than I am normally able to go on the subject matter.

Throughout the training there were lots of opportunities to contextualise the learning, both to the prison context, and as relating to any cultural nuances or traditions that were pertinent to the conversation. In this way it was interesting to hear not just how much overlap there was regarding the types of trauma and mental health struggles that prisoners from the different countries experience, but also to acknowledge some of the differences that were highlighted. These include traumas experienced as a result of being in the prison, and also traumatic events and experiences that happen outside the prison – some of which might have been a precursor to whatever it was that landed the prisoner inside.

For example, Malawi included more trauma due to natural disasters than the other countries, whilst political unrest featured higher for Kenya. One issue that was more present in the Zambian answers related to the death of a loved one, and the response of the bereaved wider family regarding inheritance of land, perpetrator of the death etc. Some of the tales that they shared of particular examples of trauma were very tough to hear, including some cultural practices and witch-craft induced traumas, various types of abuse, and examples of intergenerational gender-based violence. 

But, there were also many similar causes of trauma and presentations of mental health issues between the countries – in fact there were more similarities than differences particularly relating to conditions inside prison and the trauma of incarceration. This dominance of similarities was just as well given that one of the outputs from the training was to be a contextualised version of 360Life that GNG Africa would roll out via these participants to use with all of their volunteers and chaplains in their countries. So, after 3 days of me delivering the materials, with lots of participation and interaction along the way, day 4 was all about the participants distilling the training down to some key slides that make up the slide deck for them to use going forward.

It has been a real joy to be here with these wonderful folks. Their dedication towards bringing hope and light into the dark places of prisons is an inspiration, and it is humbling to hear how they are reaching out to those who are so marginalised, stigmatised and on the very edges of society.

It was with great delight that I handed out the certificates of completion today, and heard their thoughts on what they are planning on doing as soon as they return home. I have no doubt that these plans will be put into practice, and I thank God for this opportunity to serve alongside these folks and in some small way to sow seeds that I pray will reap a harvest of healing and hope.

Chisomo and the story of 'F'

Cred partner Chisomo, based in Lusaka, is best known for its work with street kids. The programmes it runs include a drop in centre for youth living on the streets, a transition house for children who were on the streets and are now wishing to be reintegrated into a home (their own or foster depending on circumstances), and community based activities to try and reduce the number of children ending up on the streets in the first place. 

But one of the lesser known parts of Chisomo’s activities is the advocacy work on behalf of individuals. The following anonymised case study outlines some of the issues that Aaron and Josephine and their team are grappling with. 

F is a 14 year old girl who grew up in a poor family in rural Zambia. One day her family were told by a community member that there was a lady in Lusaka who wanted to sponsor a teenage girl to complete her schooling. The family, who felt that they had no chance to fund their daughter themselves, jumped at the opportunity and signed the daughter up to go to Lusaka. 

Sadly the promises didn’t turn out to be true and the lady forced the girl into domestic servitude, knowing that the girl was so far from home that she’d have no chance of escaping. During this time the girl experienced the horrors of physical, sexual and verbal abuse as well as being trapped against her will. 

However, after sometime the girl did escape and managed to find her way to  the Chisomo drop in centre. There she gradually learned to trust the team and shared her story with them. They agreed to help her work out what next. 

However, they were concerned with the declining health of the girl that they were seeing and so the first course of action for the Chisomo team was to take the girl to the hospital for a full check up. It was then that she was diagnosed with insulin-dependent diabetes, resulting in the need for insulin treatment for the foreseeable future, as well as a complete change to the foods that she was eating. 

This is easier said than done when living on the streets, and considerable input from Chisomo was required to help the girl gain access to healthy foods, and to get her diabetes under control. It was also a steep learning curve for the team, as F was the first street kid that they had ever supported who had diabetes. 

Alongside the health support, the Chisomo team have also been working with F to decide what her options are moving forward re long term accommodation. 
One option was to explore f returning home, but the concern by all, including F, was that the family still live a precarious and impoverished life and might be tempted to send the girl off again. Also, if F returns home, then the original lady might hear about it and come chasing the family for compensation. 
So home isn’t really an option. 

Another option is to find another member of the wider family who might take in F, but the worry is that word will get back to Fs immediate family and result in the same concerns as before. 

A third option is to find a foster family. This is the preferred route, but is not an  easy one to follow. The increased cost of living means that potential foster families are less easy to find, especially for a girl who has medical costs as well as all the usual costs. F prays that a family will come forward, but in the meantime she is now staying at the Chisomo halfway home where she had some stability, can resume school, and build her ability to manage her diabetes. 

This example of Chisomo at work is one slight insight into all the advocacy and support work that they do. And sadly, there are far too many other cases where this input is needed. Indeed, the night that I heard about F’s story, the team also mentioned that the lady who trafficked F has since used the same ploy to entrap 5 other girls age between 14-16. So the next step for the team is to take the information to the police. 

Aaron and Josephine and their team do the most incredible work and it is so humbling to have them as part of the CRED family. As they continue to serve the street kids of Zambia, we pray that they will know many Blessings

India blog

I’m going to be a bit vague in this blog, so as to not say anything that could incriminate any individuals or locations. Suffice to say I am in India, in a very urban area, where I can’t go out of the compound due to political unrest, but I am safe. I am at a conference with about 25 others, all of us follow the same faith. There is a contingent from the UK, and others are from different states of the host nation, and we have partners from Bh_tan, N_pal, and Phi_ippines. We also have partners joining us on-line from P__istan and T__iland

The conference has had some very good times of teaching, and sharing of best practice. And it has had some beautiful times of networking, and sitting and listening to each other’s stories. One of the things that has really stood out for me is the experience of so many regarding the challenge of practicing their faith in this region, and particularly in this country.

Some of those here have been imprisoned for talking about their faith, others have taken a massive beating. Ch__ches have been driven underground in many places as it is too dangerous to meet in the open. As a result, gatherings take place in homes (providing it’s not in a rental home where the landlord has forbidden gatherings), and the opportunities for bigger gatherings are very limited.

Government is making moves to wipe out votes in order to make things even more difficult – some of the participants here don’t know if they have a vote still. Always it is those who admit to being non-Hindu whose votes are being wiped. Each time that a population survey is done, they have to say what is their faith. If they say anything other than Hindu, their benefits and access to support are taken away. Therefore many are scared to say that they are Chr__tian, even though they are.

Many times they will also lose access to assets that they need in order to earn money (shop, equipment etc), or risk losing their job. One woman I heard of was told that her job description was changing from 5 days to 7 days, and if she didn’t work every day then she’d be fired. Her response was that going to church on a Sunday was more important than keeping that job, and so she is now unemployed.

Also, in some states it is illegal to prosletyse and so church leaders take a risk every time they speak about Ch__st to anyone, as they do not know if that person is a Hindi spy.

But, despite this, and many other examples of the persecution that is taking place, interest in the Ch---ian faith is growing. In part this is because those who are from the Hindu faith are intrigued to know what it is about Ch___ity that is so compelling that people will endure the beatings, the persecutions, the attacks. And as the interest grows, so the conversions increase, even if some of them are quiet and not publicly admitted to for the above-mentioned reasons.

The situation here is very tough, very risky, and not for the faint hearted. But, strength comes from testing, and so can be seen here – strong, vibrant, deep faiths, full of the love of Ch__t that reaches out to those around them in many ways.