Including a chapter by Indie Peace co-founder Larissa Sotieva ‘Reflecting on Collective Resilience during and after the Beslan Tragedy’.
Posts by Independent Peace Associates
Recent seminar in Yerevan on #ambiguousloss highlighted the psychosocial dimensions of the limbo families face when loved ones are missing - and how collective acknowledgement & compassion are key not only for families' healing but also for broader societal healing.
indiepeace.org/ambiguous-lo...
Ahead of our 6th birthday, revisiting our founding principles for transformational #peacebuilding.
Analysing the intersection of psycho-socio-political factors & how we function as humans with emotions feels more relevant than ever in today's world full of #trauma.
🎂
indiepeace.org/transformati...
Indie Peace convened multi-disciplinary community of practice in #Armenia to discuss the social & political dimensions of #collectivetrauma.
We discussed related issues of #identity, #mourning, #forgiveness, trauma discourse & its manipulation.
Read here ⬇️
indiepeace.org/community-of...
“A psychologist will not give us our home back. But can help us build a new one – inside ourselves.”
#worldrefugeeday
eng.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/66386
Since early 2025, thanks to #Lithuanian Development Cooperation, the #NewPerspective team of psychologists from #Nagorno-Karabakh have focused on their own capacity building. Read about how they've been developing their approach to working with #collectivetrauma here.
indiepeace.org/supporting-i...
Meet the fantastic 'New Perspective' team and read about how Indie Peace has been working with them.
indiepeace.org/new-perspect...
- Constructive internal #dialogue on collective trauma encourages individuals to think critically about themselves, their history & role in conflict, creating potential for social transformation, a culture of #peace, and bilateral dialogue in the name of peace.
- Our engagement with conflict-affected groups is based on ‘healing through doing’ - to activate society’s own resources, involving people in their own recovery by being socially active, accessing opportunities for growth, socialisation and acquiring new knowledge and skills.
- Through self-reflection we develop skills to analyse the other side of the conflict. Parallel work on both sides helps to develop mutual understanding, dispelling the sides' exclusive focus on 'their' own truth, creating space for acceptance of 'the other’s' truth.
- Working with collective trauma involves the opportunity to reflect on and analyse one’s own society and one’s place in it, and to better understand why we feel, think and act in the way we do.
The #Armenian-#Azerbaijani conflict has deep psychological roots & #collectivetrauma passed down the generations became a significant driver of the #conflict. This paper reflects on why it is important to work with collective trauma, how indie Peace strategy & process evolved.
‘This approach opens up many themes for dialogue which are difficult, but are more acceptable through this lens of #collectivetrauma. i.e. the framing & acknowledgement that ‘we have the same pain’ is a very important foundation for discussions’ (dialogue participant)