Connecticut Health Leadership Fellows Network Group News | LinkedIn:
Healing the hardened heart and mind…
December, 2011
Though conflict transformation has become a field of knowledge involving teaching, study, skills-training and research, at its heart it involves truth-telling in the midst of painful human conflicts, moving people to mutual understanding, forgiveness, and the healing of broken relationships. We often witness this powerful process of transformation in our work with churches, government agencies, community groups and many more.
In mediating relationships plagued by systemic problems such as racism and other forms of injustice we often peel away layers and layers of misunderstanding, misperception, hurt, anger and distrust accumulated over time, sometimes very complex in nature. Complexity arises for instance, from lack of trust, the difficulties of truth-telling, obstacles posed by different perceptions, different needs, interests, value systems, power imbalances, and so forth. In these situations, conflict transformation offers parties the opportunity to listen and acknowledge their pain and anger, to reach out to one another, and move the conflict beyond stalemate and bitterness
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