From Peacebuilding Circle to Peacebuilding STAR

For one week in February, the circle of JUSTPEACE tried on a new shape, a peace-building STAR.  Supported by Church World Service, Eastern Mennonite University of Harrisonburg, Virginia, hosted a seminar on “Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR): Trauma, Violence, and Peacebuilding.”  The STAR logo is designed to emphasize that a healthy society may be helped through the interventions of trauma healing, justice, spirituality, the development of human security, and direct peace building. We also saw how all the disciplines are connected and related. Tom Porter, Executive Director of JUSTPEACE; Rodney Petersen of the Boston Theological Institute and I, Warren Dale, the Western Jurisdiction’s JUSTPEACE Coordinator were among the JUSTPEACE members in attendance.  David Hooker is also a member of JUSTPEACE, serving on the Board of Directors. David is also on the staff of STAR, and for this event he was a coordinator and facilitator.

The seminar involved presentations and discussions around the topics of trauma recovery, self care for the care giver, restorative justice, and peace building.  A very important part of the learning experience involved the personal and spiritual connection of the participants from different parts of the world and from different faiths.  The experience brought us together. We began in a very profound way by sharing a symbol of trauma that we had experienced. Through this simple ritual, we were reminded of the trauma and pain we all experience as human beings. We concluded by sharing symbols of hope.

At one point in discussing trauma recovery, we used a type of road map upon which we could locate an individual and a community. We used the map as a tool to consider the possiblie emotional pathways that could lead to healing.  We studied ways of breaking free of cycles of violence and retribution.  Breaking free involves mourning and moving towards accepting the losses, which can lead to coexistence, connection, establishing justice, and possible reconciliation. I shared with the group suggestions for helping people heal from trauma from my own work and experience, including naming what happened, working through the process of finishing the story, retraining the body to read today’s signals, and reconnecting to the building of the future.
After working with trauma, the seminar moved naturally to a discussion of spirituality and how to maintain self care for the care giver.  Ron Kraybill, a JUSTPEACE Board Member and faculty member at EMU, who was the main presenter at the 2004 Gathering, discussed active forms of relaxation, passive forms, the need to take breaks, and the need to continually find meaning in one’s work.  I also shared a brief paper on “Setting up the Church as a Trauma Care Center” and its section on self care.

From there, we moved to the topic of restorative justice, presented by Howard Zehr.  Zehr shared that “most traumas involve a sense of justice,” which highlighted the importance of working with trauma and restorative justice today in order to build a justpeace for tomorrow.  He sees three pillars of restorative justice: 1) addressing victim’s harms and needs, 2) holding offenders accountable to put right those harms, and 3) involving victims, offenders and communities in the process.  This reminded me of the value of the peacemaking circle of JUSTPEACE.

I experienced a special “aha” moment when, during one particular exercise, a representative of Truth, a representative of Mercy, a representative of Justice and a representative of Peace engaged in a dialogue.  I was struck by the significance of the needs of each player as truth, mercy, justice and peace emerged in the context of a trauma situation.

Jayne Docherty, another EMU faculty member, presented a framework of peacebuilding.  She suggested that involvement may be activated through waging conflict nonviolently, reducing direct violence, transforming relationships and capacity building. She concluded her presentation by emphasizing the importantance of teaching that conflict does not mean violence. Actions come from needs, and it would be helpful to us, as conflict transformation practitioners, to help those in conflict to find creative ways to seek the satisfaction of those needs.

As you read these highlights from our STAR seminar experience, I hope that you are able to get a sense of the heart-building, the connection that occurred among the participants.  If you have participated in a circle process during one of the annual Gatherings or a JUSTPEACE training event, you indeed experienced the healing, the bonding, and the hope that comes from being in circle, and you know some of what we experienced during the STAR seminar. The week of learning and sharing reminded me that all of us have a contribution to make to peacebuilding wherever our feet, our hands, and our heart are located.

Warren Dale is an ordained minister, a member of the conflict resolution team of the Cal-Nevada Annual Conference and the JUSTPEACE Coordinator for the Western Jurisdiction.

Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) is a unique approach to trauma healing that connects personal transformation with organizational, societal and global wellbeing. STAR provides training and resources to develop the capacity and resilience of religious and civil society leadership to transform conflict, build peace and security and support justice, through healing trauma within local, national and global communities.

Introductory and intermediate level STAR seminars are taught in week-long workshops on the campus of Eastern Mennonite University. Technical assistance, and customized presentations and trainings are provided through the STAR office at EMU, the New York City office and the STAR Seminary office.