Coping with conflict and stress

Ever wondered how to make a bit of peace in your space? Well you could start, believe it or not, by going to a course. Make Peace in Your Space, aimed at parents, young adults, teachers, nurses, community groups, or anyone experiencing difficulties with conflict, is a series of six lectures starting tomorrow at 8 p.m. The purpose of the course is to look at issues such as stress and interpersonal relationships and to explore the idea that by analysing what may seem like overwhelming problems, you can in fact begin to dissipate their impact.

The team of lecturers includes Marie Murray, clinical psychologist, who will examine the issue of bullying; John Lonergan, governor of Mountjoy Prison, who will look at relationships and Dr Patricia Casey, psychiatrist, who will talk about conflict avoidance. The series is co-ordinated by Dr Tony Byrne, a Holy Ghost priest, who recently returned to Ireland having worked in Africa and Latin America for 35 years.

"Since I came back it has become increasingly apparent to me that the two most significant problems experienced by people in Ireland are suicide and conflict. I have organised three courses on suicide and this course looks at the issues surrounding conflict. It is based on the idea that conflict in itself is neither good nor bad. It can in fact be a key to personal growth," Byrne said.

The premise of the course comes from the Brazilian educator, Paolo Freire, who was one of Byrne's lecturers when he was working on his own PhD in education. "Freire described conflict as `the midwife of awareness'," he says. "We can develop techniques which help us use it to develop a deeper awareness of what's happening in our lives. If we learn to analyse the oppressive structure in our society, we begin to see these structures as the root cause of our own inner conflict. There are economic, political, social and cultural structures working within our society which impinge on the lives of individuals. The point of this course is to first become aware, then to look at the motivation of the leadership which perpetuates these structures, and then to question how this might be changed."

This process is described by Byrne as "conscientisation", ie, developing an awareness of social realities and a willingness to change them. As part of the course, Sergeant Joe O'Connor will examine the role of the Garda in domestic violence. "In a situation of conflict such as domestic violence it is important that people do not feel like they are dealing with a monolithic organisation, but with individuals who are personally responsible for their decisions," he says. "With my colleague Marie Daly, I will be discussing the ins and outs of the legislation surrounding domestic violence and how this is approached by the gardai. We will also look at the operation of the gardai, with an emphasis on the use of moral persuasion, as opposed to force, and our role as facilitators in situations of conflict."

At the end of the six weeks participants receive an attendance certificate. "The idea behind a course like this is to separate the people from the problem," says Byrne, "the people are not the problem".

The six-week course costs £18. It takes place at the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, 20 Bachelors Walk, Dublin 1. For further details contact Tony Byrne at (01) 8380157.