Troubles victims probe '˜post-traumatic growth'

Victims of the NI Troubles are to speak at an event in Derry next week which will focus on how trauma can be a springboard to higher levels of well-being.
Prof. Stephen Joseph.Prof. Stephen Joseph.
Prof. Stephen Joseph.

The theme of ‘post traumatic growth’ will come under the spotlight at Holywell DiverseCity Community Partnership, Bishop Street, on Monday, September 17 (9.30am -3.30pm).

At the event, Belfast-born professor of psychology, Stephen Joseph, will discuss how trauma and adversity can be a catalyst for positive changes.

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Speaking ahead of the conference, he said: “We plan to have a lively, open-minded conversation about the relevance of the post traumatic growth concept to people’s lived experience here some twenty years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.”

Stephen Joseph will be joined by Peter Heathwood, who survived a gun attack at his home in North Belfast in 1979 which left him paraplegic, and Alex Bunting who survived an under-car bomb attack in October 1991.

Other contributors include NI psychotherapist Brid Keenan, one of the foremost practitioners of Somatic Experiencing Therapy in Ireland, and Siobhan O’Neill, Professor of Mental Health Sciences at Ulster University who has been deeply involved in generating creative strategies to help prevent suicide.

To book a place at the free conference, contact either Eamonn Baker or Michelle Clarke at Tel: 028-71261941.

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