This reparation measure has already benefited 31,051 people affected by armed conflict in this region, out of a total of more than 204,000 in Colombia.

Overcoming fears and recovering their self-esteem, 8,520 survivors of armed conflict in Antioquia benefited during 2018 from the group's emotional recovery strategy as part of their integral reparation.

Since it began in 2012, this strategy has strengthened more than 31,051 people affected by the conflict in more than 50 Antioquia municipalities, between urban and rural areas and a total of 204,346 throughout the country.

Throughout nine group meetings led by the psychosocial team of Unit for the Reparation of Victims and operators, the activities focused on strengthening trust, security and solidarity among the participants through the construction of meanings and Emotional self-regulation to grieve experiences of suffering.

This attention was developed in the urban headwaters and also in townships and sidewalks in about 30 municipalities focused on survivors of different victimizing facts, such as homicide and forced disappearance of relatives, forced displacement, kidnappings, sexual violence, torture.

One of those victims who benefited was Rosa Quiñones, who, in addition to the murder of a son, suffered two forced displacements caused by the self-defense groups and the guerrillas. At the end of his process he drew on a curtain the symbolic image of the white dove in flight and the phrase "not to war, yes to peace. I'm a survivor".

This woman said that "it helped me a lot because I did not have peace and I had lost the will to live. After the days with the psychologists I am recovering and we feel strengthened to move forward, because in Anorí we have survived some very horrible things, like me who 15 years ago killed me a son that I unearthed myself ".

Rebuilding life projects

According to the director of Victims Unit in Antioquia, Wilson Córdoba Mena, with this strategy of emotional recovery "is intended to mitigate the impact that the victimizing events suffered by people have in order to have psychological conditions to reconstruct their life projects, have a family and social life. This is part of its integral repair. "

He also stressed that this psychosocial process manages to reestablish links among people from the same community "helping to rebuild the social fabric damaged by violence."