In this episode, Otilia and Harris interview Johanna McMullan and Paul Gallagher who are trained educators at the Widows Against Violence Empowerment (WAVE) Centre. WAVE is the largest cross-community victim group for everyone who has been affected by the troubles and conflict in Northern Ireland from 1968-1998. While the troubles officially ended over 20 years ago, violence and traumas still bear lasting effects to which WAVE continues to promote peace, reconciliation, and trauma recovery through 5 different centers and 15 satellite projects across Northern Ireland. Johanna is a senior Nursing and Midwifery lecturer at Queens University in Belfast.

For over a decade, Johanna has been with the Wave Trauma Centre in Belfast where she delivers citizen education programs and other trauma trainings. Paul came to WAVE in 2010 for support after he was severely injured in 1994 in the conflict from being shot 6 times. Today, through trauma recovery at WAVE, Paul has obtained his master’s degree in conflict reconciliation and social justice and his PhD thesis in Sociology. Throughout the conversation, Paul and Johanna share their insights into how education through loving and caring practices enable victims to recover from trauma and support the fragile, yet lasting peace in Northern Ireland.

In the episode, Johanna first delves into the different aspects of love and care that are important to consider when incorporating it into citizen and trauma education. Moreover, Paul shares his personal story of how a sense of communal care and inner peace were crucial for his own healing which he extends further to share how trauma affects the human mind. To this, both Johanna and Paul emphasise that the path towards sustaining peace – also in Northern Ireland – lies at the heart of a caring community. Moreover, to build such a community in practice, WAVE brings citizen education to the forefront of their work where the individual educators not merely showcase the need for remembering the conflict but also the possibilities for trauma recovery through generations.

We hope you find our conversation interesting.

For a version of our podcast with close captions, please use this link. For more information about individuals and their projects, please visit the University of St Andrews' Visualising Peace website.

Music composed by Jonathan Young

Sound mixing by Harris Siderfin