The IGGI Project, an initiative founded by Holistic Health Consultant, Joan Bennett-Williams, provides Virgin Islands children, parents, and educators with the tools to explore and process emotional stresses after traumatic experiences such as a hurricane. IGGI was created following Hurricane Marilyn in 1995 and was revived after Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017.
After disasters, many children exhibit signs of emotional trauma for months, while those who would normally be available to help - family members, teachers, counselors, and school administrators - are similarly effected by stress, frustration and depression from the experience.
The IGGI Project provides children, parents, and educators with the tools to explore and process emotional stresses after traumatic experiences such as a hurricane. The toolkit includes coloring books, a story book, teacher's manuals and parent guides designed to help children identify their feelings and find constructive ways to deal with those emotions. Through a puppet show, music, and dancing, children are encouraged to connect and express, with the ultimate aim of healing.
The IGGI philosophy centers on the idea that a crisis is an opportunity for us to stretch beyond our normal coping mechanisms and find out which ones work for us and which ones don't. To build back stronger, we need to build our own internal selves stronger by examining how we are currently coping and how to find help to go beyond that.
