The Role of Work with Psychological Traumatization and Self-help in Peacebuilding and Reconciliation
Peace, Reconciliation and Social Justice Leadership in the 21st Century
ISBN: 978-1-83867-196-9, eISBN: 978-1-83867-193-8
Publication date: 23 September 2019
Abstract
Psychological trauma has not been considered to be a primary factor in reconciliation, peacebuilding, and (re-)integration into society during and after conflict and with vulnerable groups. Frequently, it is seen by those in leadership “soft” and often has been characterized as “irrelevant” in comparison with such factors as politics and economics.
We believe that bottom-up work is equally important as top-down work, if not more so, in creating viable societies, particularly during and after conflict and with marginalized groups as refugees, people with mental health reactions, former prisoners, and other vulnerable groups. We have seen that people whom we call “peer supporters” under good supervision can function extremely well. In our experience, in many cases, “experts” do not understand the issues and cultural aspects vital to such groups and thus function less well than people with less formal education but who are within the communities concerned.
The CWWPP has developed a highly participatory method known as Pragmatic Empowerment Training (PET) to train and supervise such people.
We stress that these are long-term processes and that current expectations of donors and others for short-term solutions have been unrealistic. We see such work as preventing violence and encouraging integration.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
We would like to extensively thank our long-time US donor, who wishes to remain anonymous and who is one of the few people who understand the need for compassionate psychological assistance to war victims and migrants. We would like to thank the Hulpfonds of Dutch Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends for their support over the years. We would like to thank the Swiss Trauma Therapy Foundation and the St Gallen Evangelical Church for their support.
Citation
Tauber, C.D. and Marić, S. (2019), "The Role of Work with Psychological Traumatization and Self-help in Peacebuilding and Reconciliation", Peace, Reconciliation and Social Justice Leadership in the 21st Century (Building Leadership Bridges, Vol. 8), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 23-35. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2058-880120190000008002
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019 Emerald Publishing Limited