The concept refers to the idea of “protection, assistance or favor, that is, the provision of help, assistance or form of help to third parties. This support format is the gateway to a broad and complex universe, this is none other than the one where the personal (psycho) and contextual (socio/cultural) universes define social reality, whether it is referred to at a macro or micro level. social (Blanco and Rodríguez, 2007).
The previous statement is more solid, if possible, in situations that drastically alter social dynamics (emergency/catastrophes), such as the case of COVID-19.
In the face of events as complex as the pandemic, the reality that produces malicious situations cannot be decomposed into its constituent elements without damaging the global understanding of the shocking event; All of this for a simple reason, the event that generates vulnerability, which is none other than the complexity of life, is its constitutive material and by its nature is indissoluble in social and/or subjective sub-planes.
Social reality, which we observe every day, is shown in a multifaceted way, exposing its edges associated with various forms of suffering, that is, those that manifest collective forms, in some cases, and intimate, personal and subjective, in others.
In both cases the profiles merge until they become a warp, making it highly complex to define their borders; This is the object of psychosocial diagnosis, the moment where social and intimate biographies take shape and explain the pain and suffering experienced and felt by the people with whom we mediate every day (Poveda, Lozano and Gómez, 2012).
The reflection that intentionally accompanies this work tries to dynamically and reciprocally interconnect both realities, especially in times of pandemic and through telephone attention techniques; In short, we are not talking about anything other than managing the complexity, ambiguity, reflexivity and uncertainty that constitutively surrounds human nature, that is, that associated and essential to homo sapiens.
What are the objectives of psychosocial support?
Going deeper into the conceptual definition and following Arricivita (2013, 2019), the objectives of psychosocial support are:
- Help directly affected people, family members and close friends, or community, to resolve problems, difficulties and/or social and psychological needs derived from a catastrophe situation.
- Strengthen your resources and coping abilities.
- Try to reduce or alleviate their conditions of vulnerability in situations of threat, catastrophe and loss, whether unexpected or traumatic.
Social supports are essential to protect and support mental health and psychosocial well-being in emergencies, and must be organized across multiple sectors.
Likewise, we can break down the various types of social support into the following:
- Emotional
- Instrumental
- Informative
- Evaluative
- Empathy, care, love and trust; seems to be one of the most important.
Does psychosocial support manifest itself in a mediation process?
Well, indeed, we have to say that it does manifest itself, since psychosocial support also consists of offering information to other people so that they can use it in problematic situations. It does not provide solutions, but resources.
It involves a transmission of information and a favorable environment to open communication and facilitate conflict resolution. It is relevant support for self-assessment.
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After this reading, it can be seen that Mediation is an invaluable instrument to help the entire society. It is a means of helping people, in many moments of their lives, already when it comes to resolving their conflicts with other people; whether at the level of large groups of people in cases of disasters, or at the family level, etc., etc.
Indeed, the information that can be offered to all these people can make it easier for them to communicate with each other in a more empathetic way and, in this way, be able to resolve conflicts that may have arisen between them.