Belfast Hosts International ‘Trauma & Spirituality’ Conference
Over 250 delegates and speakers from across the world travelled to Belfast for the groundbreaking Journey Towards Healing International Conference which took place in the Europa Hotel at the beginning of March. The conference brought together faith communities and health professionals to discuss how a more holistic approach to trauma recovery could be explored and developed.
Organised by the Journey Towards Healing programme based at Niamh (Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health), the conference brought together people from across the world to talk about their experiences and perspectives on trauma and spirituality.
Charlie Leeke, rector of Dromara and Garvaghy and Journey Towards Healing Committee member, said, "It was over two years ago when the Journey Towards Healing Committee came up with the concept for this conference. We knew it would be challenging but we also knew that this dialogue needed to take place and we felt the time was now right to help it happen."
“There are few, if any, opportunities to bring together the health and faith perspectives on dealing with trauma, so one of the aims of the conference was to create space for dialogue, debate and discussion. I was encouraged and inspired by the conversations that took place- speakers and delegates alike openly shared their experiences of individual, community and societal trauma and trauma recovery.”
Charlie continued, “The conference included 37 parallel sessions where 55 presenters shared a wide range of views and experiences, helping us explore the many different kinds of trauma and integrated approaches to healing. Listening to these speakers, we truly felt part of a global community of people engaged in this work. Two of the many highlights of the conference for me, were the addresses by the keynote speakers, Fr. Michael Lapsley and Kaethe Weingarten. They spoke with passion and a depth of knowledge and understanding that was truly inspirational and uplifting.”
“In my own experience I have seen the important role faith can play in healing, often alongside medical treatment. In times of severe stress, many people turn to their church for comfort and guidance. When we experience trauma, we can get caught in that time period –reliving the traumatic event and feeling unable to move on. Our role as faith workers is to listen and to be there to help people work through the mixed emotions they feel, so that they can do their best to move on with their lives. For many of the delegates at the conference, this was the first time that the area of trauma was considered from both the health side and the faith side. For some people, there can be a faith element in healing and it was helpful to see this perspective discussed and explored at the conference” he concluded.
Fr. Michael Lapsley, an Anglican priest who lost both hands and the sight in one eye after receiving a letter bomb during South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle, travelled from South Africa to make an address at the conference. Fr. Lapsley leads trauma recovery workshops throughout South Africa and many countries around the world affected by conflict. His moving speech talked about how his faith helped him deal with his own personal trauma and how he was able to move 'from victim, to survivor, to victor’.
Kaethe Weingarten, professor of Clinical Psychology at Harvard Medical School also spoke at the conference about the effects of witnessing chronic community violence. Kaethe’s work focuses on the idea of ‘witnessing’ violence, rather than looking at it from the perspective of victim or perpetrator. Kaethe has worked with groups in South Africa and Kosovo on witnessing community violence and during her address spoke about the importance of ‘hope’ in trauma recovery. Kaethe distinguishes between what she calls ‘reasonable’ hope and ‘unreasonable’ hope or ‘rainbow hope’. She defines unreasonable hope as ‘an impossible dream that pain and trauma can be completely erased’. Kaethe advocates a more moderate and reasonable approach where communities who have experienced chronic community violence can take small steps to begin the process of healing.
The Trauma and Spirituality conference began with a Welcome Reception at Stormont, co-sponsored by the Junior Ministers and Dr. Stephen Farry MLA, where priest of the New England Jesuit Province, Ray Helmick SJ, spoke about his experiences in conflict zones across the globe. Having spent much of the 1970s and early 1980s in Northern Ireland, this was a welcome return visit for Ray. Ray is Professor of Conflict Resolution in the Department of Theology, Boston College, and his address on conflict and the traumatic impact of conflict in areas including Lebanon, Israel and Palestine, countries of Former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Turkey, East Timor, and Southern Africa brought an international perspective to the conference from the outset.
The closing sessions on Thursday and Friday of the conference were delivered by Professor Michael King and Professor John Brewer. On Thursday afternoon, psychiatrist Michael King presented on his work researching the mental health and wellbeing of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people, particularly looking at the traumatic impact that negative perceptions of and behaviour toward LGB people have on their mental health and wellbeing. Professor John Brewer delivered the final closing session on the Friday, presenting his research on the role of the churches in the public domain in Northern Ireland, exploring what church leadership did and did not do to provide prophetic and practical leadership during the Troubles.
The ‘Trauma and Spirituality: An International Dialogue’ conference, was set against the backdrop of the trauma experienced in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, with footage from the BBC ‘Chronicles’ exhibition illustrating the devastation and how it has, and still affects, people in communities across Northern Ireland. The conference opened with an 8 minute film clip created by BBC Archive, showing the impact of Troubles trauma on people here, and the health professionals and faith leaders who supported people in the aftermath of trauma.
Peter Mc Bride, Niamh Group CEO and Chair of Journey Towards Healing was pleased at the success of the conference. He said, “I would like to thank everyone who made this conference possible. The speakers were of outstanding calibre and added unique and often challenging perspectives to the discussion and dialogue on trauma and spirituality. We heard uplifting stories of hope and recovery from trauma and were challenged to look at the failings of the past and consider better ways for faith and health to deal with individual, community and societal trauma in the future.”
“This conference brought together two very different perspectives on trauma and through the discussions that took place, we were able to find common ground and learn from each other’s experiences to gain a wider understanding of trauma recovery. The enduring message from the conference is hope. Hope that we can continue this journey towards healing and hope that structures and networks can be put in place to support a more holistic approach to responding to – and preventing - trauma in the future.”