"Whereas the term “trauma” typically refers to the impact that a traumatic incident has on an individual or a few people, collective trauma refers to the impact of a traumatic experience that affects and involves entire groups of people, communities, or societies.

Collective trauma is extraordinary in that not only can it bring distress and negative consequences to individuals but in that it can also change the entire fabric of a community" (Erikson, 1976)

Collective Trauma and Elderhood

As we stand on the threshold of Elderhood we're invited to look back at our Life and Ancestral Roots and reflect on the Myths and Stories that have shaped the first part of our lives.

Rarely, as part of this exploration, do we take a wider perspective on how Collective Trauma may have influenced the Systems that we've belonged to.

We only have to witness the Collective Trauma that's happening in the world right now to see how it affects the WHOLE System and the Generations to come. Yet it's as if we have some kind of amnesia about how Collective Trauma stays (sometimes hidden) in the system, unless it's witnessed, recognised and acknowledged. If it's not, it can be held in the system as a repeating pattern, causing illness and dis-ease and limit the system's ability to thrive.

In this workshop we'll be exploring Collective Trauma and how we can recognise and work with it in our Eldership.

Some questions we'll reflect on include:

What collective trauma have you personally been impacted by? e.g. The pandemic
What collectives traumas were your ancestral family been affected by? e.g. wars, famine's, religious or racist abuse
What collective trauma has occured in the place you were born and brought up? e.g. disasters, murders, apartheid etc
What collective trauma did your community experience? e.g. racism, terrorism, colonialism

We'll also discuss how we can illuminate some of these hidden traumas so that they can be acknowledged, released and healed.

The workshop format includes:

Building the group container through a reading and music
A short presentation around the topic
Group discussion about the themes that emerge

This is an interactive session, so everyone needs to be on camera; however, there's no pressure to speak or contribute.