Wednesday, May 27, 2015 | 10:15 – 11:45 a.m.
Neville Scarfe Library Block, Room 278
All are welcome. No RSVP required.
Masahiro Minami, Ph.D., is a candidate for the tenure-track assistant professor Position in Counselling Psychology (Group Counselling)
Nurturing Inter-Group Reconciliation: Application of Counselling and Group Dynamics Theories to War Prevention and Peace Building
In this colloquium, Dr. Minami will feature his research project in Rwanda, applying a relational counselling psychological approach, woven together with group dynamics theories to nurture psychosocial reconciliation between survivors and perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda living within the same community. Dr. Minami introduces an evolution of his clinical research programs in Rwanda into a community-wide movement, and will highlight key research findings using participant narratives, photos, and video footage. Dr. Minami will conclude by discussing how counseling psychology, in particular, group dynamics theories can make a valuable contribution to a broader humanitarian work such as inter-group conflict resolution, reconciliation, war prevention, and peace building.
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Minami received his Ph.D. in Counselling Psychology from the University of British Columbia. He is the current holder of the UBC’s premier Morita Post-doctoral Fellowship for Peace Action Research and is the founder and co-director of the Globe in Peace Project at UBC. Dr. Minami is a certified Morita therapist registered with the Japanese Society for Morita Therapy (JSMT) in Japan and also serves as the Assistant Secretary General for the International Committee for Morita Therapy. His research interests include application and evaluation of group dynamics theories to effective mediation, inter-group conflict resolution, and community psychosocial reconciliation in post-war contexts. Dr. Minami is the co-founder and a current director of the Prison Fellowship Rwanda-Morita Centre for Peace and Reconciliation Research. And, whilst living in Rwanda, he served as a visiting assistant professor at the Mount Kenya University in Kigali. For his work in psychosocial reconciliation and peace building, Dr. Minami received the prestigious Junior Scholar Award by the JSMT. Dr. Minami is also leading a clinical research project with colleagues from the Mood Disorders Centre, University of Exeter; Exeter Medical School; and in partnership with the National Health Service, on developing a group- and action-based Morita therapy to be made available as part of the U.K. health care service.