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Publication
A Final Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master’s Degree in Conflict Facilitation and Organizational Change, Process Work Institute, Portland, OR, April 2011
Local notes
http://www.processwork.org/files/Finalprojects/Bunger_Baumgartner_C_April_2011.p...
Abstract
This paper explores and discusses the importance of trauma transformation in the context of process-oriented conflict facilitator development. The core questions it tries to answer are: Why is it important for a facilitator to know and transform his or her own history of abuse and trauma, what are the benefits of such a transformation process, and what does it take to go through such a process? To answer these questions, the author gives a synopsis of several scientific approaches to trauma and trauma recovery, on this basis introduces a process-oriented approach to trauma and trauma recovery, gives tentative answers to the questions asked above, and fleshes the theory out with case material from her own practice. The core hypothesis of the paper is that facilitating intra- and interpersonal conflict and working through one’s own history of abuse and trauma could be cross-fertilizing processes, provided (a) they are both informed by a process-oriented theoretical framework that goes beyond seeing the person at the receiving end of a traumatic experience only as victim, but relies on the inner resources of the person that are potentially transformative, and (b) they are accompanied by a process-oriented inner work practice that raises and trains awareness of the inner oppression stemming from experienced trauma, and for how the many facets of this inner oppression shape our way of engaging in conflict.
Key words: Trauma, trauma transformation, facilitator development, conflict facilitation, worldwork, inner work
Abstract
This paper explores and discusses the importance of trauma transformation in the context of process-oriented conflict facilitator development. The core questions it tries to answer are: Why is it important for a facilitator to know and transform his or her own history of abuse and trauma, what are the benefits of such a transformation process, and what does it take to go through such a process? To answer these questions, the author gives a synopsis of several scientific approaches to trauma and trauma recovery, on this basis introduces a process-oriented approach to trauma and trauma recovery, gives tentative answers to the questions asked above, and fleshes the theory out with case material from her own practice. The core hypothesis of the paper is that facilitating intra- and interpersonal conflict and working through one’s own history of abuse and trauma could be cross-fertilizing processes, provided (a) they are both informed by a process-oriented theoretical framework that goes beyond seeing the person at the receiving end of a traumatic experience only as victim, but relies on the inner resources of the person that are potentially transformative, and (b) they are accompanied by a process-oriented inner work practice that raises and trains awareness of the inner oppression stemming from experienced trauma, and for how the many facets of this inner oppression shape our way of engaging in conflict.
Key words: Trauma, trauma transformation, facilitator development, conflict facilitation, worldwork, inner work