Risk of FGM
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A multidisciplinary approach

ACCOMPANYING

Facilitating women and young girls to express their experiences within a secure environment, free from judgment, forms the cornerstone of support at GAMS during the first intake. This appointment serves as an initial assessment of their needs to tailor individualized support: social, psychological, legal, and referrals to partner services as required. Additionally, community workshops are offered (for women, men, youth, children, and pregnant women) to enhance their capacity to act.

The primary audience of GAMS Belgium consists mainly of female asylum seekers affected by FGM, seeking support and guidance in medical, psychosocial, or legal matters. We also assist families, unaccompanied minors (MENAs), men, women, and girls who are refugees, as well as individuals who have come to Belgium through family reunification or other means. Our role is to welcome them, provide information, and guide them within the Belgian social context. Additionally, we are increasingly welcoming individuals in precarious residency situations.

You’ll find a range of support and workshop proposals. Scroll through them or click on the one you’re interested in to access it directly:


PSYCHO-SOCIAL SUPPORT

THE WORKSHOPS

Psycho-social Support

GAMS provides a service for intake, orientation (medical-psychosocial and legal), and psycho-social support as needed, based on the situation, needs, and requests of individuals. GAMS assists individuals affected by FGM, forced marriages, and other types of gender-based violence, whether they are in asylum procedures, out of asylum procedures (undocumented), recognized refugees, regularized migrants, or individuals who have come to Belgium through family reunification or other means.

INDIVIDUAL INTAKE

Individual intake and orientation interviews are conducted by appointment at the headquarters in Brussels and at the branches between 9 am and 5 pm. Each person is received for an individual interview to establish a file, complete registration (if desired), identify their needs and requests, determine the type of support needed, and implement accompanying measures if necessary. The difficulties encountered in supporting individuals are primarily due to their undocumented status and consequently lack of income, loss or lack of autonomy, homelessness, and lack of access to social assistance. All of these difficulties increase their vulnerability and the risks of experiencing physical, psychological, sexual, and economic violence such as rape, prostitution, sexual harassment, economic and domestic exploitation, domestic and intra-family violence, among others.

NEED AN APPOINTMENT WITH SOCIAL SERVICES?

If you live in:

    • Brussels: 02/219.43.40
    • Liège: 04/377.45.40
    • Namur, Luxembourg, Hainaut, Walloon Brabant: 0470/54.18.99
    • Limburg, Antwerp, Flemish Brabant: 0493/35.15.47
    • West Flanders, East Flanders: 0493/40.52.90
Find GAMS near you

Psychological support

The psychological service provides a space for exchange, listening, and creation for individuals experiencing psychological distress regardless of their administrative status. It constitutes a place where one can unload excess emotions, a secure and caring environment where social bonds and trust can be rebuilt, humanity restored. It is a place for self-construction, self-reconstruction after traumas, violence, discrimination, and wandering.

Tools

A variety of tools are used, ranging from psychotherapy to art therapy, hypnosis, psychomotricity…

Men, women, youth, children. Follow-ups are offered in French or English, as well as in any other language through collaboration with peer educators trained by GAMS. Individual, family, couple support, work with parent-child dyads; support is tailored to the needs and pace of each individual.

Stabilization of symptoms, trauma work, reinforcement of individual skills are all possible therapy objectives.

 

Need to contact a psychologist ?

To benefit from psychological follow-up, we first organize an initial intake with the individual to get an overview of their needs. The person is then referred internally or externally.

Why consult?

The reasons for consultation are varied and not limited to FGM.

  • Awakening of traumatic memories of FGM (recurrent images depicting FGM, phobia of the sexual sphere, avoidance of emotional and sexual relationships…)
  • Search for meaning and identity in the face of questions arising from encounters with non-excised women, feelings of shame, betrayal, and abandonment by loved ones…
  • Various traumas related to exile, other types of violence, particularly gender-based…
  • Loss of social bearings, sleep disturbances, insecurity, low self-esteem, inability to envision the future, relational difficulties, questioning of parenthood…

Article

The Therapeutic Process
as a Tool for Self-Reconstruction

At the intersection of individual vulnerability and resilience, the therapeutic process often emerges as an essential compass in the journey towards self-reconstruction. Maud Jeulin, a psychologist at GAMS, highlights the transformative role of therapy in personal healing. She emphasizes the importance of speech, understanding, and therapeutic support in forging the path towards resilience and reclaiming the personal narrative in the process of self-reconstruction.

Read the full article

GAMS Workshops

 

Monthly meetings

Historically known as the “Last Friday of the Month,” the monthly meeting is the oldest activity conducted at GAMS. Today, this meeting is organized in each of our branches, such as the “Last Thursday of the Month” in Liège!

The activity brings together women affected by FGM and forced marriages. These meetings aim to promote speaking out, the acquisition of new knowledge and skills, the strengthening of capacities, and the empowerment of participants with a view to combating violence against women and promoting gender equality.

Participants become aware of their situation within their family and society, improve their self-esteem, and develop their critical thinking to act on their daily lives and improve their living conditions and those of their surroundings.

  • Brussels: Carolina Neira Vianello – carolina@gams.be or 0493 40 52 92
  • Namur: Ismatou Bah – ismatou@gams.be or 0493 40 52 91
  • Antwerp: Ewout Gubbels – ewout@gams.be or 0493 35 15 47
  • Liège: Louise Da Via – louise@gams.be or 0470 54 18 99

Birth preparation workshop

These workshops are intended for pregnant women who are affected by FGM and have questions about it.

The objective of these sessions is to improve the well-being of women and provide them with a space to ask questions regarding pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period. These sessions also serve as a place for exchange, sharing, and support among women. They are also a venue for prevention to support parents in protecting the unborn child or older children from certain practices (FGM, forced marriage, violence).

These preparation sessions do not replace prenatal consultations with a gynecologist or midwife.
They are led by a midwife and one of the intercultural workers from GAMS Belgium. Each cycle consists of 3 prenatal sessions lasting 2 hours each and one postnatal session with babies. Each session is tailored to the needs and requests of the group, so the topics discussed correspond to the current concerns of the participants.

Participation in the sessions is voluntary and free. Translation is provided if needed.

Contact and registration for Brussel and Wallonia :

  • Pauline Soupa – pauline@gams.be, 0492 35 23 32
  • Julia De Clerck – julia@gams.be, 0493 88 53 76

Contact and registration for Flanders :

  • Lieselote Hoornaert – lieselote@gams.be, 0490 16 75 17

Youth workshop

The youth workshop is aimed at both unaccompanied minors and young people who have migrated with their parents.

The objective is to provide a special space for the voices of young girls and young adults in development. The same issues are addressed as in the monthly meetings (stereotypes, discrimination, gender equality, gender-based violence…), but in this workshop, they are approached through creative means. This year, the workshops take the form of a theater troupe!

Beyond debates and informative contributions from the activities, this group aims to actively transform things through the participants themselves. The number of participants is unlimited, and the workshop is bi-monthly with completely voluntary participation.

 

Practical infos

  • Who: Young girls aged between 15 and 25
  • When: Wednesday afternoons from 2 pm to 4 pm, bi-monthly workshop
  • Contact: Carolina: carolina@gams.be or 02 219 43 40
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Workshop for men : self-discovery

The workshop for men who wish to learn about and engage in the fight against female genital mutilation.

This workshop aims to:

  • Engage men in the fight against female genital mutilation.
  • Challenge their representations while respecting women’s rights.
  • Deconstruct the foundations of inequalities on various subjects (parenthood, sexuality, masculinity, gender, etc.).
  • Exchange experiences that can contribute to better dialogue between men and women and the reduction of violence.
  • Better understand oneself and have a new vision in the relationship between men and women.

Registration and contact:

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