Conflict Mgt Expert Administers Trauma Healing Course
A professor at the New Century College of George Mason University (GMU) in Virginia facilitated a course on trauma healing in Silliman University last August 5 to 10.
Dr. Al B. Fuertes, an expert in conflict transformation management, handled the five-day course on “Trauma Healing and Resiliency: ‘Peace-ing’ the Self and Community Together After Conflict.”
The course was offered by the Religion and Peace Studies Department of Silliman University. It provided the participants, who were teachers, staff members and community workers, with a systematic overview of the multifaceted issues of trauma, trauma healing and resiliency within socio-historical contexts.
In his activities, Dr. Fuertes employed a collaborative and interactive approach to developing a deeper understanding of trauma, its causes, effects and consequences among his participants. He also used case studies from both local and global settings in establishing the theoretical basis of trauma work. Trauma, if unhealed, is said to create a cycle of violence within the self, family and the community.
Dr. Fuertes is a Silliman alumnus. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Theology from Silliman in 1990. He completed his master’s in Peace Studies from the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in 1997, and his Doctor of Philosophy in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University in 2007. Before joining GMU, he served Silliman as a teacher.
