At the root of any violent conflict, we can find painful wounds turning us against each other. Whether civil war, racism, toxic polarization, or bullying, unhealed trauma of all types drive us apart.
But our pain doesn’t condemn us to more violence. Healing and peace are possible.
Join Peace Catalyst’s Mirela Popaja-Hadžić, therapist and trauma awareness trainer, for a workshop on principles for healing and transforming trauma as part of transforming our communities. Drawing upon her experience healing her personal trauma and helping others heal in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mirela will..:
Share five key principles and practices for transforming trauma into peace.
Guide participants in reflecting on where trauma has impacted their own communities and lives.
Facilitate an interactive conversation about how participants can apply five practices to trauma-informed peacebuilding in their own communities.
About Mirela
Born in Sarajevo in the 1980’s, Mirela had a front row seat to the breakup of Yugoslavia and the siege of Sarajevo. In her twenties, Mirela realized that the war impacted her more deeply than she had previously acknowledged, and this realization launched her into an introspective journey to grapple with and heal from her own trauma. Her own unaddressed grief and trauma came to the surface, and she came to understand the importance of grief as part of the process of healing and reconciliation.
As a Bosniak Protestant from a Muslim background, Mirela had prejudice toward Serbs and Croats despite the fact that she grew up with them. Dealing with her own grief helped her become open to and connect with people across ethnic divisions, so that she saw their grief, wounds, and stories as similar to her own.
She has over 10 years of experience working in both for-profit and non-profit sectors in project coordination, program management, training, facilitation, and translation. She is currently specializing in Gestalt Psychotherapy to become a trauma therapist to more effectively address the unengaged trauma manifesting in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) as depression, anxiety, and addictions. She is also an affiliate trainer with Trauma Free World and holds a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Sarajevo.