Paying Attention to Trauma From the DirectorIn the beginning of a recent training, a participant shared the proverb, “you must not wake the sleeping lion.” It reminded me of another story about a lion. This one involved a mother, a lady not well loved or respected by others in her community, who needed to return from the market to feed her children. She was warned that there was a lion nearby and it was dangerous to walk anywhere. Yet she knew that her children must eat – and no one else would care for them in her absence – so she set out on her journey. She heard the sounds of the lion, and she felt her heart race. She came upon it and found it was struggling and crying because there was a thorn in its paw. She removed the thorn. The lion, now able to walk, accompanied her and ensured her safe arrival. For years after that, she enjoyed the lion’s protection and walked without fear. In their amazement at her courage and persistence, her fellow community members began to respect and accept her. Perhaps our efforts to avoid waking or encountering the lurking lions is the very thing that keeps us from transforming ourselves and our communities. I give thanks for so many STAR participants over the years, who have dared to attend to the thorn in the paw. May we continue to build and rebuild our courage. Katie Mansfield PS – New resource from our colleagues at Catholic Relief Services! They recently created a facilitator's guide for a workshop that helps children and youth lessen the impact of violence and abuse in their lives called Singing to the Lions – available online and featuring STAR’s cycles of violence and snail model in the teaching supplement. Trauma Awareness ActivityAcknowledging Intersectionality in Sources of TraumaBy Katie Mansfield We invite STAR participants into conversation about sources and types of trauma. We place labels up on the wall and invite discussion of individual and collective sources of trauma, single event and chronic or continuous situations, acknowledging the powerful impacts and myriad examples of historical, structural, and cultural traumas as well as participation-induced traumatic stress, dignity violations and secondary trauma. It’s usually a powerful conversation, yet it’s often left me wanting something more. In a few recent trainings, I’ve experimented. During the presentation of the sources of trauma, I invite participants to write a few words on small scraps of cloth indicating traumatic experiences/harms that have touched their life and work. After the presentation, participants gather in groups of 4-5 people around a pre-made cloth that depicts the sources of trauma. In silence with gentle musical accompaniment, they are invited to pin onto the cloth the scraps on which they have written their experiences or harms. Because one might see that a particular harm represents both historical and structural harm and a dignity violation (e.g., systemic racism), they are invited to use yarn/thread to connect to the other relevant sources of the harm(s) they experienced or witnessed. Though it requires some preparation and supplies, this exercise has so far opened a space for people a) to acknowledge their own and each other’s traumagenic experiences, b) to visualize the interconnections between various sources of trauma and c) witness the diversity of experiences in a group without the challenge (and potential for secondary trauma) that comes with everyone engaging in fuller story-telling. There are, of course, benefits to telling each other our full stories. And sometimes silence, a few written words and the tactile experience of pins and cloth and yarn can make for potent acknowledgment. (And it requires literacy, so it’s not ideal for all contexts.) Upcoming Events
STAR I at EMU in Harrisonburg, VAAre you interested in how trauma shapes our body, beliefs, brain, and behavior? Do you want tools to respond to people who have experienced trauma? Do you work with people who have experienced trauma? Join us for a STAR I training at EMU in Harrisonburg, VA in January or February! Or in March at EMU in Lancaster, PA!
2018 Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI)SPI courses are now on the CJP website! Join us for STAR II, May 14-22, 2018 or STAR I, June 4-18, 2018. Check out classes on conflict, forgiveness, truth telling, sexual harms, and peace education!
News WorthySTAR at the Summer Peacebuilding Institute 2017 At the Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI), STAR taught STAR II and two classes of STAR I! Vernon Jantzi, Elaine Zook Barge, Ram Bhagat, and Elizabeth Snyder trained a total of 60 people in trauma awareness and resilience building! SPI 2018 courses are now on the website, including STAR I & II training dates! STAR in the NewsSTAR Director, Katie Mansfield, published "Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience programme: experiential education towards resilience and trauma informed people and practice" in Intervention, Journal of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Conflict Effected Areas. In addition, Katie recently spoke with journalist, Christine A. Scheller, about trauma and moral injury. In the article, Katie offers an outline of STAR and our trauma healing work!STAR with Catholic Relief ServicesKatie Mansfield, STAR Director, joined Catholic Relief Service (CRS) in Aursha, Tanzania. She lead 2-day trauma awareness and resilience building trainings: one in English and one in French!
STAR Travels: Booking Training Opportunities NowDo you work with an organization that would benefit from STAR training and trauma-awareness? We are currently scheduling contracted STAR trainings with organizations! If your organization is interested, you can fill out a request here.
Resources
www.emu.edu/star | 540.432.4651 | 1200 Park Road Harrisonburg, VA, USA STAR is a program of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University. |