Past Training Workshops

Thus far, IDI Training Workshops have followed one of three models: The Large Group Identity Workshop, the Case Conference Workshop on Large Group Identity and the Group Sandwich Workshop.  These three models are described briefly below.  Please contact the IDI if you are interested in learning more about, attending, hosting one of these Training Workshops or designing a Workshop to meet your group’s needs.

Workshop Model One – Large Group Identity and Societal Conflict: Bringing a Psychological Understanding to Conflict Resolution

Working with the conflict theories of IDI President Emeritus Vamik Volkan, participants engage in a multi-day tripartite program, consisting of didactic presentations about large group psychology and interventions, opportunities to reflect on large group identity in members’ own lives and case studies from members and the IDI, all in an effort to apply large-group identity principles to actual work on societal conflict.  For more information, please see the “Upcoming Workshop” tab.

Workshop Model Two – Case Conference Workshop on the Significance of Large Group Identity in Understanding Societal Conflict

This Workshop uses a case conference model to explore the way that historical trauma becomes part of group identity and profoundly affects a society relationships, within and across its boundaries. How can we understand large group identity, learn about the emotional history it represents, and bring this knowledge to fruition in our work, particularly with regard to the disturbed societal relationships so often encountered in negotiation and international work? The Workshop is directed to those who already have some knowledge of Professor Vamik Volkan’s concepts and are interested in an in-depth exploration of cases – either one’s own case or the cases of others. The Workshop also includes a focused review of Professor Volkan’s ideas, an opportunity to explore large group identity in one’s own life, a framework for thinking about intervention.

Workshop Model Three – The Group Sandwich Model for Conflict Dialogue

Human beings are predominantly social, and therefore are deeply motivated by inclusion, exclusion and rejection dynamics. The Sandwich Model was designed by IDI member, Robi Friedman, to cope with such conflictual dynamics in disturbed communities. An extended Large Group interaction is “sandwiched” between two brief Small Group sessions, and, if led well by staff “conductors” trained in Group Analysis, has a unique potential to transform hate into non-violent co-existence.

These different interpersonal settings carry different emotional resonances and mobilize different forms of coping. The Small Group can feel like the family, which promises protection against rejection. Participants can feel secure, even as they begin to voice conflicts. The Large Group has a different atmosphere, more akin to the public space and therefore more risky. But it also makes face-to-face encounter possible for quite a large number of participants. Powerful verbal and non-verbal experiences expose participants to the views of others, and enable the discovery of one’s own voice and view.

The Large Group thus provides a developmental space for individuals and sub-groups struggling to find their voices in the presence of a threatening “mass” of people and the massive authority they seem to carry. Exclusion and rejection dynamics are indeed experienced but become tolerable and a source of learning because they are handled in benign ways. Members have the opportunity to counter extremism by enabling violence-inhibiting feelings like guilt, shame and empathy to operate.   Dynamics of splitting, projection and hating, which may have been lived out between groups in conflict, are noticed, contained and made sense of. In the process, individuals differentiate themselves and become more human to each other. The closing Small Group both calms participants and helps them integrate what they have learned.

The Sandwich Model has been used with both professionals and laymen in conflict situations: In the Ukraine during the war, in Northern Ireland with politicians and leaders of civil society, in German-Jewish dialogues, and in schools, Arab-Israeli villages and kibbutzim. This Workshop should prove useful to mental health professionals who work with groups and want to expand the application of their skills. It may also prove useful to other professionals who are interested in learning the group psychology of societal conflict.

 

Report from Previous IDI Training Workshops

Over the past several years, the IDI has begun to offer small training workshops for interested participants.  These workshops grew out of the IDI meetings and Volkan Scholar program, as members of the IDI sought to share and build upon their development of a way of thinking about the psychology of large group identities and how that psychologically-informed way of thinking might inform efforts to resolve conflict.

The IDI offered a pilot training workshop in connection with its 15th Annual Meeting, held in Vienna in December 2017, after a colleague at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue expressed the sense that there was “something clinical” missing from his own training in mediation.  This observation suggested to the IDI that its methodology of psychologically-informed engagement – and IDI members’ experiences applying this methodology – might offer other practitioners a new set of tools to apply to their own work.  Working with their colleague at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, IDI members structured a half-day workshop of lecture, discussion and application.

Building upon this experience, the IDI offered an expanded two-day formal training workshop in connection with its 16th Meeting in 2018.  Using feedback from the first workshop, the IDI refined the structure and focus of its training, added self-reflection groups and case studies, and drew a larger group of professionally and geographically diverse participants, including governmental officials, academics, clinicians and students.  Two smaller more specialized workshops were then held in March 2019 in Geneva and in Oxford.

The Large Group Identity Workshop was again held in November of 2019 and online in December 2020.  In September, 2020, this Workshop was refined to focus on members’ projects in more depth.  We used a clinical case conference format to explore the psychological issues underlying the “case” and emerging in the intervention.  Case discussions have taken up specific international conflicts, the effects of wartime trauma in certain countries, social dynamics related to immigration, and other real-world situations.

In addition to their engagement within the framework of the workshop itself, attendees tend to bond informally outside of sessions – over meals and cultural excursions at the in-person workshops – to share and apply IDI methodology to their own professional contexts.  Many of these relationships continue well after the workshop ends.

 

What Participants Tell Us

“The training provided excellent conceptual tools for understanding the psychological dynamics of large group identity and how it plays into conflict within and among societies.  The concepts are well grounded in practical experience of the trainers with relevant examples and case-studies from the field.”

“An eye opener, this cross over between the spheres of psychology and international relations so well described in Volkan’s work. I had, for several years, been trying to bridge these two areas of interest and to have it laid out as it was, was exciting and stimulating.” 

“The IDI Training Workshop in Vienna was an excellent opportunity to get to know an additional angle to the field of Conflict Resolution. Vamik Volkan’s and the faculty members’ psychoanalytical expertise was invaluable input for both my future work and private life.”

“The IDI Workshop was incredibly valuable from a theoretical and practical perspective.  Dr. Volkan’s knowledge, experience, teaching style and passion for the subject made an indelible impact on me.  Learning from him was a highlight of my professional career. Usually, I come away from a conference with 3 or 4 good ideas; after this Workshop, I feel like I have a long list and it continues to grow.  I continue thinking about our time in Vienna weeks after the event, and now see large group conflict everywhere. Furthermore, I’m acutely aware of the absolute need to train individuals in psychological approaches to large group conflict amelioration for the sake of our communities, our nations and our world.  Such conflicts are ubiquitous, and the time to act is now.”

“The depth of reflection, the clinical lens brought to bear, the openness, empathy and curiosity of the participants — these are the things I will remember most about the IDI training workshop.  It has given me new tools with which to effect change in my conflict interactions.”