Think Peace Podcast: Where Peace Crosses the Mind Think Peace Podcast

In today's peacebuilding landscape, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) have emerged as essential components. Any peacebuilding or reconciliation initiative that overlooks MHPSS neglects a crucial aspect of holistic peacebuilding, which should be trauma-informed and human-centered rather than solely technical.

In this episode of the Think Peace Podcast, host Colette Rausch engages in a conversation with Rowda Olad, the founder and clinical director of Maandeeq Mental Health based in Mogadishu, Somalia. Maandeeq is a nonprofit organization that aims to integrate mental health and trauma healing into the realm of peacebuilding and community development.

Rowda shares her motivations for pioneering this work in Somalia, highlighting the necessity for implementing trauma-informed practices within Western peacebuilding approaches. The episode delves into the importance of MHPSS in fostering sustainable peace and shares Rowda's aspirations for the future of MHPSS-based initiatives.

As the social change landscape experiences rapid and holistic transformations, the integration of diverse disciplines and knowledge fields is shaping new paradigms of "peace" and "justice." In this episode of the Think Peace Podcast, your host, Colette Rausch, delves into a discussion with Dr. Sará King on the intersection of neuroscience, mental health, and wellbeing. Dr. King, the founder of the MindHealthCollective—an organization dedicated to addressing the consequences of intergenerational trauma—provides valuable insights into the integration of wellbeing practices within the realm of social justice.

As peacebuilders, we dedicate ourselves to the cause of creating sustainable peace. However, it's crucial to ask how we can achieve this sustainability without adequately training and empowering the next generation of peacebuilders, equipping them with the essential tools to perpetuate the cycle of peace.

In our quest to understand the pivotal role of trauma and neuroscience in our field, we need to ensure that we impart a trauma-informed approach to peacebuilding to the upcoming generation. This approach is inseparable from the concept of
peace, as we continually refine our human-centered strategies for fostering peace.

 In this episode of the Think Peace Podcast, our host, Colette Rausch, engages in a conversation with Cam Cassar, the podcast’s Senior Producer and a member of the next generation of peacebuilders. Together, they delve into Cam's journey into
the field of peacebuilding, his relationship with peacebuilding and neuroscience during his undergraduate and graduate studies, the genesis of the Think Peace Podcast, and where he hopes to take his research and experience working within the field of peacebuilding.

When discussing justice, many think that there is a one size fits all approach. In reality, justice has many different interpretations that are applicable to a wealth of different contexts and scenarios. It is important to have justice processes that are designed holistically and take into account the knowledge of other cultures and most importantly the diversity of the human experience.

On this episode of the Think Peace Podcast, our host Colette Rausch sits down with Think Peace Learning and Support Hub Director of Truth-Telling and global transitional justice expert Eduardo Gonzalez to explain how his experiences growing up in Peru during a time of civil strife laid the foundation for his interest in transitional justice, how the field has evolved from its early iterations to become more inclusive of different viewpoints, and how the notions of trauma, healing, and human rights have informed his approach to transitional justice and peacebuilding.

In thinking about social hierarchies, one may not be aware of the psychology behind power dynamics and the direct effect they have on perpetuating group-based hierarchies and inequalities.

Join us for the first episode of Season 3 of the Think Peace Podcast as host Colette Rausch and UC Berkeley Professor Dr. Sa-kiera Hudson discuss theories of social dominance and identity, the role of empathy, and schadenfreude within intergroup conflict as well as how these all coalesce to create and perpetuate systems of harm.

When it comes to violent aggression, you may wonder what it is that can cause someone to commit horrific acts of violence? Is it just plain evil? Genetics? Adverse life experiences? Is it  faulty brain chemistry? In this episode of the Think Peace Podcast, host Colette Rausch sits down with Dr. Sumaiya Sheikh to discuss the neuroscience of violent aggression, what can trigger people to become radicalized and then commit violent acts, and what possibilities there may be to prevent violent acts before they happen.