Psychotherapists as Peacemakers: Using Healing Skills for Political Action

This interactive workshop offers a space for learning, reflection, and connection—bridging the worlds of psychotherapy, politics, and international relations. Together, we’ll explore how global systems operate, what sustains peace, and—most importantly—how the skills you already possess as a psychotherapist can contribute to social and political change.

In our two hours together, we’ll take a gentle journey that links the deeply personal with the broader political. You’ll have the chance to rediscover your sense of agency and explore how, as a person can make a meaningful difference in society.

You don’t need to be an expert in politics—this workshop is for anyone who wants to understand how their work can reach beyond the therapy room and into the world.

Learning Objective Participants Can Expect From This Event

• Recognise the connections between peace, politics and psychotherapy.
• Find ways to foster peace.
• Regain a sense of agency.

Who is This Workshop Appropriate For?

• Helping professionals who feel called to respond to current events.

How May This Workshop Impact Your Practice?

• Expand your sense of professional purpose beyond the therapy room, seeing your role as part of a larger ecosystem of change and healing.
• Feel more empowered and less disheartened in the face of societal issues, translating concern into constructive action.
• Cultivate resilience and clarity about your role in times of crisis and deepening your long-term engagement.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PSYCHOTHERAPISTS AS PEACEMAKERS LEARNING PROGRAMME
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nUaZdTAhva1Yc1pLVd7uXCVXskoA8eEm/view?usp=drive_link

ZOOM

This event will be hosted on the Zoom meeting platform where we will use our cameras and microphones to interact with each other as a group.

SELF-SELECT FEE

The self-select fee is a radical inclusion policy to open learning for all colleagues. The guide price for this event is £20.00, however, we appreciate that income varies greatly in different locations and circumstances. Please contribute what you can to help us maintain inclusive professional training.

___________________________

At Onlinevents, we and the presenters we collaborate with are committed to working in a way that aligns with the ethical codes and frameworks of our respective professional organisations. We expect all colleagues attending our events to uphold the ethical principles of their professional membership.

If you are not a member of a professional organisation, we ask that you participate in a way that is both authentic and respectful, fostering a space of mutual learning and professional engagement.

By registering for this event, you agree to be present and interact in a manner that reflects these principles.

Maria Kontarini

Person-Centered Practitioner | Peacemaker Learning Facilitator

My work is woven from a tapestry of experiences across psychotherapy, diplomacy, corporate human relations, and life in seven countries.

My most profound teacher has been Bosnia— a connection that has evolved through my student years, my diplomatic service, and my research on state-building. Witnessing the aftermath of war, not as a distant observer, but as a fellow human being, was a shattering experience.

A wound that became a door, opening me to a visceral understanding of how the personal and the political are interdependent. I saw how both trauma and post-traumatic growth are woven into the very fabric of broader structures and systems revealing that sustainable, meaningful change requires both bottom-up and top-down approaches working in concert.

These insights form the foundation of the Psychotherapists as Peacemakers programme and my co-founding of the Peace Project 21 (PP21) — the current iteration of the Carl Rogers Institute for Peace, co-founded by Rogers and Gay Barfield in the 1980s.

Website | www.meta-morphoses.com

LinkedIn | Maria Kontarini