Citation

Danesh HB. J. Community Psychol. 2008; 36(6): 814-832.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/jcop.20261

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In this article, the author describes the nature and dynamics of the culture of healing and the prerequisites for its creation. The concept of the culture of healing emerged over the course of 7 years of implementation of the Education for Peace (EFP) Program in over 100 primary and secondary schools in the ethnically divided Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The process of change from conflict-based to peace-based ways of thinking and behaving in this multiethnic society, slowly and painfully emerging from a devastating civil war, is described and the dynamics of interface between a culture of healing and individual psychological processes are described. In the culture of healing, health is defined as a state of organic unity—wholeness, equilibrium, balance, and harmony—and healing as the process of creating unity in all aspects of individual and community life. At the core of this process is the essential transformation from conflict-based to unity-based worldviews—ideas, attitudes, relationships, and practices. The author describes and analyzes the empirical and research findings of the EFP-BiH project and its relevance to the currently high level of global interethnic discord and conflict. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.