This study assessed the ability of the Companion Recovery Model to reduce the emotional and psychological symptoms of profound catastrophic trauma among youth and young adults 16 and 25 years of age who previously served as child combatants within Ganta, Liberia, West Africa. During 2005, a pilot study was conducted to validate and refine the original model and collect preliminary data to corroborate its effectiveness with 17 male participants from the described target population. During 2006, the primary study was completed that included a training seminar with 130 attendees—67 males and 63 females. The seminar facilitated evaluation of the model as a viable tool for reducing the impact of severe trauma.

The Companion Recovery Model was developed from both a review of scholarly literature and extensive past experience of the researcher. The model is consistent with current research and state-of-the-art clinical practice. While remaining cost effective, reproducible, and generalizable, it was implemented during the 2-week seminar, requiring 10 sessions with each consuming 2 hours. The effectiveness of the Companion Recovery Model was evaluated by assessing symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, as measured by the Clinical Assessment of PTSD Scale. Pretraining administration of this scale was conducted with 30 study participants selected by the Liberian Advisory Committee, and posttesting was administered to 9 male and 11 female participants with the most severe symptoms. Statistical analysis of the raw data indicated that symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder were significantly reduced following the training (p < .001). This finding suggests that the 2-week training implementing the Companion Recovery Model appeared to be useful in reducing the impact of profound catastrophic trauma in youth and young adults who previously served as child combatants within Ganta, Liberia.