Both REPSSI PSS interventions tested in the context of this research are much more formalised than the Children’s Committee and Livelihood interventions with a detailed curriculum. One of the PSS interventions is the Hero Book approach. It is a strength- and solution-oriented approach developed by Jonathan Morgan from REPSSI, which concentrates on the resources and coping skills of the affected children and helps them to deal with everyday stressors.

The process is designed for groups of older children and youth who are led through a series of drawing exercises and autobiographical story telling exercises by a trained counsellor. It is designed to help them set goals, and give them power over a specific challenge or obstacle in their life. It is thought to be helpful for grief processing and for the building of self-esteem. The method used is “anti-cathartic” which means that the exposure to traumatic experiences in the past is avoided. The process involves reflection, peer support and community mobilisation. Every child decides for him-/herself, whether it wants to work on his/her own or whether he or she wants to share with people inside or outside of the group. At the end of the process the child has a self-made story book, in which he or she is the hero as well as the protagonist. This book documents and strengthens problem-solving and survival strategies. The Hero Book process takes 20 sessions of about an hour.

The Hero Book is a very popular tool that is widely used by different NGOs in various countries and has been further developed in the past years. To date, it can be considered as a save tool but has not previously been subjected to strict scientific evaluation to explore its value for partner organisations.

The details of the Hero Book training can be taken from the REPSSI training manual Making a Hero Book. A guide for facilitators (Morgan, 2007).