Solidarity and Relational Restoration: Supporting Healing from Collective Trauma  

The refugee journey is intrinsically interwoven with experiences of collective trauma such as organised violence, state-based oppression, social dislocation and displacement, asylum seeking experiences, and gender-based violence. In addition, refugee trauma experiences commonly intersect with other forms of collective trauma such as racism, homophobia, transphobia, environmental trauma and historical traumas including colonisation. This constellation of experiences impact at an individual, family and collective or systemic level requiring refugee trauma healing practices to embrace frameworks that support healing from collective trauma. 

 This half-day workshop explores the principles underpinning collective trauma and how we can support healing from collective trauma within counselling, group work and community-based programs. The workshop will introduce collective focused therapeutic approaches such as ancestral healing, culturally restorative processes, traditional healing practices, justice work and mutual attunement to support individuals, families and communities to build co-regulation, synchronicity, trauma integration, agency, identity, social and relational restoration. Participants will be welcomed to explore these approaches and interventions through experiential activities, case reflections and peer learning. 

Workshop participants will gain an in depth understanding of collective trauma and practical approaches, programs and strategies that they can integrate into their everyday practice. Discussions will enable participants to explore their own practice and that of their peers to bring more consciousness to the ways in which they already support collective trauma healing, with particular attention to relationality as a core methodology connecting all forms of practice. 

This workshop draws from and is informed by liberationist frameworks, de-colonising practice, Indigenous and First Nations knowledge systems, historical-trauma healing interventions, traditional and survivor led healing, and resistance and justice doing processes. 

This workshop is suitable for a variety of professionals working in therapeutic, community-based, settlement, health, and education settings who work with survivors of refugee or refugee like trauma.

Workshop run time: 3 hours