This winter The Peace Academy Foundation in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in partnership with Peace Catalyst, is pleased to once again offer a 5-week online course on trauma-sensitive peacebuilding. Led by a team of international trauma-sensitive peacebuilding trainers, this course trains participants to recognize and respond to trauma as peacebuilders. This course is intended as an introductory-to-intermediate training for people in caring professions (e.g. social workers, counselors, teachers, pastors, etc.), students and activists passionate about trauma healing and/or peacebuilding, and everyday people who are interested in getting involved in peacebuilding work in their communities.
This year, the course will include discussions about racialized trauma, exploring the ways that various individual and collective traumas have their origins in racism. By applying insights from the field of trauma studies to questions of race, this course aims to equip participants with the tools to confront root causes of racialized trauma and work with sensitivity toward racial justice and healing.
In order to make trauma-sensitivity training accessible for people from post-Yugoslav countries, The Peace Academy and Peace Catalyst International also offer this course in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (BCS). This course aims to contribute to wider societal awareness about trauma and its ongoing effects in the region. In order to accomplish this, approximately 30% of the registration funds for the English course will subsidize the separate BCS language course and offset a portion of the cost for Balkan participants, contributing to sustainable trauma-sensitive peacebuilding education in former Yugoslavia. As such, your participation in this English course not only equips you as a peacebuilder but will support peacebuilding in the Balkans as well.
Course Dates and Time
FORMAT
The entire course will happen online via Zoom. 3 live calls per week, 2 hours per call; 6 hours total per week, in addition to self-paced at-home learning.
DATES
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays between February 6 and March 2, 2023 (Feb. 6, 8, 9, 13, 15, 16, 20, 22, 23, 27 and March 1, 2), with a two-hour opening session on February 1 and one-hour individual participant consultations the week of March 6-10.
TIME
5-7pm CET / 8-10am PT / 11am-1pm ET
Course Description
Trauma is a heavy word signalling tragedy, loss and pain. People with trauma often become stuck in a cycle, and the suffering is less a memory than a repetition in the present. However, trauma also has incredible power for transformation, growth and wisdom. In order to understand these opposites, we must learn about trauma holistically, understanding its effect upon us individually – affecting our mind, heart, soul, and body – and collectively, affecting our home, neighborhood, town, country, and world. This course takes participants through both “my” trauma as well as “our” trauma. Those of us who work with communities impacted by trauma, violence, and conflict will do well to become aware of the complexities of these forces and adhere to essential ethics that this course teaches, namely to do no harm, to uphold dignity, to recognize common humanity, and to respect diversity and difference.
This course utilizes a variety of methodologies including facilitated discussions, role playing, lectures by guest speakers, and self-paced at-home learning to fulfill the following course objectives:
- To understand what trauma is and is not, and to recognize it in the context of peacebuilding and conflict transformation
- To differentiate between individual, intergenerational, collective, and social trauma and to discuss how they interact in conflict transformation settings
- To become familiar with key trauma-informed practices, strategies, and tools
- To reflect on experience and learnings with guest speakers who are working on healing historical harms in their communities and countries
- To develop practices for self-care and resilience, both due to the effects of personal trauma and vicarious and secondary trauma
- To consider intercultural growth and competence as well as contextual awareness around trauma and healing in conflict (transformation)
- To share and exchange ideas about current needs related to trauma-sensitivity in peacebuilding
In addition to attending all online sessions, participants will be expected to complete assignments at home; create and present “inner maps” on individual and collective trauma, intercultural self-awareness, and self-care strategy; and keep personal journals for ongoing self-care.
This course is unique for several reasons. First, diverse international instructors bring a depth and richness to course content that resonate with participants from a wide variety of backgrounds. Second, this course focuses not just on individual trauma, but on a wide range of trauma that impacts both individuals and society, including collective trauma, cycles of violence, and the transmission of life experiences from parents to children that can create intergenerational trauma and cultures of violence. Third, course content focuses on understanding intercultural relationships and how the traumatic and violent histories of racism and colonialism require another layer of sensitivity for practitioners and the populations with which they’re working. Finally, during this course participants will be led to develop and engage in introspective practices to understand their own triggers and personal histories with trauma in order to develop proactive self-care practices. If we as practitioners do not develop resilience to live well, we cannot adequately care for the populations we impact daily.
Course Content Overview
- Week 1 - Getting to Know Trauma, including symbols and associations of trauma, acute and traumatic stress, primary and secondary trauma, and inner mapping
- Week 2 - Narratives and Cycles of Trauma, including intergenerational trauma, collective memory, victimization, cycles of victimhood and violence, and narrative role play
- Week 3 - Do No Harm: Ethical and Moral Responsibility, including ethical responsibility, entitlement, privilege, stereotypes and prejudices, histories of oppression, and tactile tools for focus and self-awareness
- Week 4 - Self-Care and Resilience, including compassion fatigue, building resilience, and self-care practices, tools and strategies
- Week 5 - One-on-One Consultations, when participants have individual sessions with the course facilitator
How to Apply
Fill out the online application form.
Applications are open until January 22, 2023.
You will be automatically notified when we receive your application. You will also receive an email from us not later than 7 days after applying to inform you if we need any additional information.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding your participation or need other information in this regard, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and you will be notified about the selection of your application 7 days after applying.
Participation Prerequisites
- Committment to active engagement in group and breakout dialogues, in order to facilitate group learning
- Willingness to fulfill all obligations related to the course (reading the recommended literature and writing an essay if you would like to receive a certificate)
- Fluency in English
- Must be at least 21 years old
In addition, each participant will need:
- A computer or mobile device with a camera, microphone, and speakers
- A headset with microphone is useful (but not required) for this purpose and to cut down on background noise
- A strong enough internet connection to connect to Zoom (click here for Zoom technical specifications)
- The ability to access and download documents from the Peace Academy’s online learning platform (Moodle)
- The ability to stream videos posted by instructors
As we learn and share our own experiences of trauma, we encourage participants to seek the support of friends, family and/or counselors if and when needed. Awareness of the impacts of trauma on our lives and communities requires that we create and continue to build supports that are nurturing and life-giving for our lives and work.
Participation Cost
$600 USD per participant funds our peacebuilding work in Bosnia and around the world and makes this program possible. Participants will be informed about the financial deadline after they are notified of their selection. $600 will be due before the start of the course. Use the Give Here button at the bottom of this page.
Instuctors
Amela Puljek-Shank 
After living through the war in Bosnia & Herzegovina as an internally displaced person, Amela Puljek-Shank has worked for almost three decades in the field of peacebuilding as a facilitator, trainer, and manager.
As Program Manager for Karuna Peacebuilding Center and as Mennonite Central Committee’s Area Director for Europe and the Middle East, she supervised programs and staff working on peacebuilding and trauma healing in divided societies and oversaw their work with local partner organizations. She has worked in Europe, the Middle East, and beyond, including in BiH, Croatia, Kosovo and Serbia, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Palestine, and Ukraine as well as virtual work during the COVID-19 pandemic with partners in Nigeria and Myanmar.
Puljek-Shank specializes in trauma healing, recovery, and in the areas of worker care, compassion fatigue and burnout. Currently, she works as a consultant to international organizations and focuses on organizational development, capacity building, strategic planning, and developing and leading trainings and evaluation processes. She has created and led over 80 interactive trainings on the topics of trauma and reconciliation, conflict transformation, nonviolent communication, resilience, self-care and care for others. Her publications include “The Contribution of Trauma Healing to Peacebuilding in Southeast Europe” in Peacebuilding for Traumatized Societies (ed. Barry Hart, 2008), “Trauma and Reconciliation” in 20 Steps towards Reconciliation (Center for Nonviolent Action, 2007), and “Journey of Healing” in Positive Approaches to Peacebuilding (Pact Publications, 2003).
Nicole Gallant 
Nicole Gallant is the Founder & Principal of the Downie Street Collective, a consulting firm devoted to enabling leaders and their teams to drive and sustain social change. For nearly 25 years, her work has centered around race, gender, and economic justice.
Nicole has approached peacebuilding by working to understand and dismantle harmful structures that have perpetuated systemic racial, gender, and income inequality. At United Way of New York City, Nicole led the program and policy initiatives supporting hundreds of community-based organizations to increase the self-sufficiency and resiliency of low-income New Yorkers. Nicole served as an appointee in President Obama’s Administration where she created the education strategy for the Serve America Act, using education as a pathway to opportunity for historically disadvantaged communities.
Prior to that, Nicole was a Programme Executive at the Atlantic Philanthropies, overseeing a nationwide Learning portfolio committed to increasing education equity for children and youth from low-income communities across the United States. During her tenure, she created a portfolio of grants to diversify the leadership of the youth development sector. Those investments included innovative, intensive leadership training and coaching in structural racism to foster understanding of historical, cultural, and social psychological inequities among executive leaders. The outcome of the initiative opened up a pipeline for people of color as next-generation leaders of organizations serving African-American, Latino, Asian-American, and Native American youth from high poverty urban and rural communities.
Nicole holds an undergraduate degree in African American Studies, and a Masters Degree in Public Policy and Administration, both from Columbia University. Her work is published in the Journal of African-American History, and she is a proud AmeriCorps alum.
Guest Speakers
Vahidin Omanović 
Vahidin Omanović received his Master’s degree in International Relations with a concentration in Conflict Resolution at the School for International Training (SIT) in Brattleboro, Vermont. He also served as a teaching assistant in SIT’s Conflict Transformation Across Cultures (CONTACT) program, where he taught classes on forgiveness and conflict transformation.
In 2004, Omanović co-founded the Center for Peacebuilding in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which seeks to rebuild trust and foster reconciliation among the people of Bosnia — Bosniaks, Croats, Serbs, and others—as well as support peace processes in other countries that have suffered from violent conflict. He has taught peace workshops and trainings throughout the world, including in Switzerland, Georgia, Germany, USA, Kosovo, North Macedonia, the Philippines, and Nepal, where he helped to found a peacebuilding organization.
In 2011, the Threshold Foundation from Germany honored Omanović with the 5th International Bremen Peace Award, naming him the year’s “Unknown Peace Worker.” In 2014, at the Center for Peacebuilding he won a Tomorrow’s Peacebuilder peace award given by Peace Direct, UK. In 2015, he was awarded the Cohen Center’s Susan J. Herman Award for Leadership in Holocaust & Genocide Awareness (Keene, NH, USA). Omanović has been a guest faculty member at Bennington College in Vermont each spring from 2017-2021.
Mevludin Rahmanović
Mevludin is a trained peacebuilder from the ethnically divided city of Prijedor. He received a diploma from the Theological School in Travnik as a preacher, imam, and teacher. Mevludin’s work as a peacebuilder began in earnest when he became a father. “I can’t imagine that these same events could happen to my own children. Through this peacebuilding work, I will try everything to change our past for a better future.” His family, friends, and community are at the center of his actions and values.
Mevludin is also a certified Trainer of Trainers (TOTs) in dialogue and nonviolent communication from the Bosnian branch of the Alternatives to Violence Project. After founding and directing the Center for Peacebuilding (CIM), Mevludin has nearly two decades of practical experience leading peacebuilding programs with traumatized individuals. CIM peace camps and prgrams grapple with topics related to trauma, identity, history, healing, narratives, and much more in a context full of inter-generational trauma. Prior to founding Center for Peacebuilding (CIM), Mevludin worked as a primary school teacher of Islamic Studies in Prijedor. In addition to teaching, he served as an imam in Prijedor for ten years where he organized various cultural and religious events, provided support for the Muslim community, and led religious ceremonies. In 2000, Mevludin spent a year in the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina as the Administrative Assistant to the highest ranking officer within the Bihać battery.
Seth Karamage
Seth Karamage was born and raised in Rwanda. He completed his graduate studies in Coexistence and Conflict at Brandeis University, where his focus was on conflict resolution, mediation, strategic organizational leadership, and diversity work. He has been working with the University of Massachusetts (UMass Boston) under the auspices of the Center for Peace, Democracy, and Development (CPDD) for 11 years, managing its peacebuilding and governance projects in Nigeria and Rwanda, respectively. Currently, Seth is UMass Boston’s Resident Country Director for the Strengthening of Rwandan Administrative Justice (SRAJ) project, a nationwide initiative intended to improve the state of administrative justice in Rwanda and to spur training, civic awareness, and legal and policy reforms. Karamage has also been working as a Dialogue Coach as part of the Karuna Center for Peacebuilding’s Healing Our Communities project in Rwanda. In Nigeria from 2012-2017, he implemented the project TOLERANCE (Training of Leaders on Religious and National Co-Existence) which promoted peace and reconciliation among religious leaders and their constituencies in northern and southeastern Nigerian states.
Through work with media influencers, military personnel, young people who lost their parents through terrorist acts, and groups of divided religious leaders, ethnic leaders, and women, he has developed expertise in post-conflict stabilization and mitigation, security-risk assessment, recruitment and training of peace practitioners, project management, program design, and facilitating dialogue for institutional and community collaboration. Seth also founded the Rural Economic Development and Management (REDEM) Company which aims to improve rural farmers’ social and economic livelihoods with modern agricultural techniques to strengthen sustainable peace and reconciliation efforts in Rwanda.
Dr. Paula Christian-Kliger, PhD, ABPP
Paula Christian-Kliger is a board-certified clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, and for 30 plus years, has been the President and Founder of Psychological Assets and Kliger Consulting Group. With broad professional expertise, her clinical and consultation practices, she works with children/adolescents, adults, families, leaders and their organizations, and communities from diverse social, racial and cultural, cross-generational, and socioeconomic backgrounds, especially working intensively with people who have faced Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), trans- and intergenerational trauma, and other human stress-based atrocities.
She is Principal Organizational, Relational and Cultural Consultant of Harlem Psychoanalytic Family Institute, is Associate Faculty at Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute where she received her analytic training, is Clinical Assistant Professor at Wayne State University School of Medicine and is Guest Faculty at Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, and Oregon Psychoanalytic Center. She is a member of APsaA and Co-Chair with Neil Altman of the Department of Psychoanalytic Education (DPE) Section: The Psychoanalyst in the Community, member of IPA, the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations (ISPSO), American Psychological Association (APA), DIV 39, and Black Psychoanalysts Speak (BPS).
Dr. Kliger’s writings and artwork that speak to her long-standing work with people from multilayered, intersectional, and relational contexts, offer an innovative approach to working side by side with psychoanalytically informed partners. Dr. Kliger is winner of the 2020 Next Generation Indie Book Finalist Award for both Poetry and Illustrations, for her book: “Power Your Heart, You Power Your Mind, Self-Study then Build A Bridge to Someone” which can be found on Amazon. Her co-produced podcast: “We Are Human First” received the 2020 Hermes International Creative Gold Award and can be found on Spotify, Apple, and website: www.psychassets.com.
Alfredo Barahona
Alfredo Barahona, originally from Cuzcatlan, a Maya–Pipil territory part of what is now known as El Salvador, moved to Canada as a refugee in the mid-1980s. He has worked with refugee and migrant communities through Toronto-based settlement agencies and now with KAIROS Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives.
Currently, Alfredo is working on Indigenous Rights issues focusing on the development of meaningful relationships and solidarity between Indigenous peoples and newcomers to Canada.
Alfredo has facilitated the KAIROS Blanket Exercise (KBE) extensively in English and Spanish through all of Canada including training KBE facilitators. Alfredo is responsible for the international work related to the KAIROS Blanket Exercise.
Facilitating the effective and meaningful participation of affected communities in advocacy and solidarity work is a key principle in Alfredo’s work.
As a tool for social change, music within a faith ecumenical and solidarity context, is an integral part of Alfredo’s life and social justice work.
