The Institute for Healing of Memories and its Approach to Group Trauma Treatment presented by:Jerry V. Diller, Ph.D.The Wright Institute, Berkeley, USA The Institute for Healing of Memories, Cape Town, was founded in 1998 as a parallel process to South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Under its Director, Father Michael Lapsley himself a survivor of political violence, the Institute has developed an innovative group intervention for sub-clinical trauma populations based on narrative therapy, expressive arts, and intensive personal sharing and witnessing. A DVD of an excerpt from a workshop will be shown.

  First Respondent Prof Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela   Restoring our humanity in the context of the modern state.    1.    Introduction:   Thank you for giving me the honour and privilege to  present the  First Annual Healing of Memories Lecture.   While some memories will always remain within us,  and torment us because of the sheer brutality of the experiences, our spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation has indeed aroused a sense of great pride in us.  As a nation we have shown great magnanimity.  Our warring armies have merged into one defence force;  our parliamentarians sit together as South Africans even though they were so bitterly opposed to each other and not so long ago some even objected to others walking on the same ground as them;  we have come face to face with people who have tortured us and not retaliated and many more stories of our spirit can be told. …

The Redemptive Value of Truth Telling Fr Michael Lapsley, S.S.M. September 1998 Nelson Mandela's Government in South Africa was elected under an Interim Constitution . It ended with the words: "This constitution provides a historic bridge between the past of a deeply divided society, characterised by strife, conflict, untold suffering and injustice, and a future founded on the recognition of human rights, democracy and peaceful co-existence, the development of opportunities for all South Africans, irrespective of colour, race, class, belief or sex. The pursuit of national unity, the well being of all South African citizens and peace, requires reconciliation between the people of South Africa and the reconstruction of society. The adoption of this constitution lays a secure foundation for the people of South Africa to transcend the divisions and strife of the past, which generated gross violations of human rights, the transgression of humanitarian principles and violent conflicts, and…

New School for Social Research, New York - Public Lecture4th May 1998"Confronting the past and creating the future, the road to truth, healing and forgiveness."Fr. Michael Lapsley, SSMIntroduction by Elzbieta Matynia of the Transregional Center for Democratic Studies, Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science of the New School for Social Research, New York.The special occasion today is a lecture by our Visiting Professor in Democracy, Fr. Michael Lapsley, the latest visiting professor from the very impressive list of visiting professors. I would like to say that its incredibly special for us to have him around our office. You will know what I have in mind when you listen to his lecture. He's a New Zealander by birth who has dedicated his work and life to the people of South Africa. His anti-apartheid activities and his membership in the ANC forced him, put him at odds, not only with the…