International Dialogue Initiative

The Erikson Institute’s effort to bring a psychological perspective to society’s problems led us to form the International Dialogue Initiative, which is now an independent organization.

This group of about twenty professionals from different disciplines and countries takes its inspiration from the work of Senior Erikson Scholar and IDI President Emeritus, Vamik Volkan.

The IDI comes together at least annually to develop concepts and interventions aimed at helping overcome the psychological obstacles to conflict resolution.  In 2017, we developed a Training Workshop on Large Group Identity, Collective Trauma and Societal Conflict, which combines reflective, didactic and case study elements to provide an in-depth psychological understanding of societal conflict and a framework for intervention.  We built on that workshop to develop an annual Case Conference Workshop, in which a particular intervention into societal conflict is examined through the lens of historical trauma as it is being lived out in the present. We also developed a third, more experiential Workshop focusing on Large Group Identity in One’s Own Life.

These Workshops began when an experienced mediator said to us that “something was missing” in his training and he thought it was “clinical.” We took that observation to heart, and the people who have come to our Workshops – over the last eight years now – seem to know intuitively what the mediator meant. Essentially, it’s that traumatized societies react emotionally rather than rationally, and coming to understand the sources of those emotions – for both sides – helps people make better decisions for their societies.

The Workshops have been extraordinary experiences. They have brought together people from all over the world, online every April and in-person in October. In addition to the informal lectures we provide, members open up their own life and work experiences in ways that both teach us and move us deeply. Remarkably, they also bring their dreams, which invariably illuminate something profound about involving oneself with societal conflict.

More about the IDI and our training workshops can be found on our website: the-idi.org. The IDI is very pleased to announce the publication of the first book compiling its work, We Don’t Speak of Fear: Large Group Identity, Societal Conflict and Collective Trauma, published by Phoenix Publishing House in 2023. Edited by Vamik Volkan, Regine Scholz and me, it’s available at www.firingthemind.com.