Group Counseling with Traumatized East African Refugee Women in the United States: Using the Kaffa Ceremony Intervention

This article describes the use of the Kaffa Intervention, in conjunction withWestern methods, as a culturally sensitive counseling model for group work withEast African refugee women. The intervention was developed specifically for women who are experiencing transitory maladjustment and who are at risk for the development of personal or interpersonal problems (Association for Specialists in Group Work ASGW, 2000) but who are not in need of extensive personality reconstruction. In the case reported here, the shared cultural context brings these women to the Kaffa ceremony; the shared trauma and resultant adjustment difficulties and blocks in development brought these women together for