March 31, 2011

Spirituality and Healing Conference in Belfast Has Big Impact on NCSSS Professors

Cathie Gray and Eileen Dombo at the Journey Towards Healing conference in Belfast, Ireland.

Associate Professor Cathleen Gray has been on the faculty of the National Catholic School of Social Service (NCSSS) for 35 years and has been a clinical social worker for 43. She's been to many conferences in her long career, but she says her participation at the Journey Towards Healing conference in Northern Ireland earlier this month "had an impact on me like no conference I had ever been to."

Gray traveled to Belfast for the mid-March conference with her colleague Assistant Professor Eileen Dombo, who has more than 15 years experience as a clinical social worker in trauma treatment and services to sexual abuse survivors. About the experience, Dombo said, "It was perhaps the best conference I have ever attended. Cathie and I both found it profound and transformative."

At the conference on spirituality and trauma, called an "international dialogue," Gray and Dombo were among close to 60 presenters from around the world. Their presentation was titled, "Helpers Need Help Too: Engaging Spirituality in Addressing Vicarious Trauma." The conference was held at a Belfast hotel, with keynote speeches and an opening reception at Stormont Castle in Belfast. The conference also featured "open house" visits to trauma centers throughout Belfast.

The two NCSSS faculty members, who have both been named to the Top 100 Therapists list for 2009 by Washingtonian Magazine , have much in common. Each has a rich Irish ancestry. Gray has dual citizenship in the United States and in Ireland, and Dombo lived in Ireland for a year. Dombo says this "led me to a really good understanding of the Northern Ireland conflict."

With a conflict spanning the last three decades, Belfast was a fitting backdrop for the conference. Often referred to as "the troubles," the fighting between Protestants and Catholics, according to conference organizers, led to "far too many traumatic incidents ... lives destroyed, and a legacy of painful memories."

The goal of the conference, which was sponsored by the Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health and the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of the United Kingdom, was to "strengthen relationships, networks, and infrastructure between the 'trauma' world and the 'spirituality' world, in Northern Ireland and internationally-creating new possibilities for health sectors and faith communities to work together to support trauma recovery."

"I have never had an experience of being in a room with so many people from different cultures and countries and who brought such different perspectives on types of trauma, from a victim of trauma in the Arab-Israeli conflict to a victim of trauma from violence in South Africa during apartheid," said Dombo.

"There were clergy from all different faiths and clinicians and victims from around the world and all with an intense focus on healing and camaraderie," she added.

Gray said she will not soon forget one of the keynote speakers, Rev. Michael Lapsley, an Anglican priest who had worked in the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and was a member of Nelson Mandela's African National Congress. In 1990, just months after the release of Mandela from prison, Lapsley was sent a parcel bomb. He lost his hands and an eye in the explosion.

"It was amazing that his talk was so hopeful, and to hear his thoughts about his personal journey toward healing. He is now the director of the Institute for the Healing of Memories in Cape Town, and in that role has helped so many others who have experienced trauma," said Gray.

One of many highlights for Dombo was a talk by Rev. Raymond Helmick, S.J., a priest of the New England Jesuit Province, who has worked with conflict and the aftermath of conflict in Northern Ireland, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine, and South Africa, among other countries, since 1972. Father Helmick spoke at the official opening to the conference.

"He really called the Protestant and the Catholic leaders to task, saying that for true peace to happen each group has to take the time to understand and validate the other side of the conflict. That is a very hard thing to do when there is obvious bias. I think the people in the room heard him," said Dombo. "You could see the dialogue continuing throughout the conference long after his talk was over."

"We were all called to task by the end of the conference," said Gray. "We came to Ireland committed to the conference theme of 'spirituality and trauma.' And we left with connections that will continue as we work to foster greater awareness and services."