Kate Turner: Healing Through Remembering

Kate in her Belfast offices, with Saul and Dave

When we met Kate Turner, she was packing up her offices on Ormeau Avenue in Belfast. Her small nonprofit, Healing Through Remembering (it consists of only four employees and a handful of interns) was downsizing. She made us tea and we sat around in a circle as she gave us a generous supply of teaching materials and pedagogical handbooks that her organization has produced. We promised we wouldn't keep her long, that this was just the beginning of what we hoped would be a long and fruitful conversation and partnership over time.

We were made aware of Kate and her organization through Alan McBride, our friend at the WAVE Trauma Centre, who dedicated his own life to trauma work after the death of his wife in the Shankill Road bombing. He is a founding board member and adviser for this organization.

Kate described her organization's mission as a question, "How do we deal with conflict?" They have developed core principles under three headings: Society; Process; and Individual.

Under Society, the core principles are Commitment to a Better Future; Not Forgetting; Healing and Hurt; Centrality of Truth; and Realistic and Hopeful Goals.

Under Process, the core principles are Language and Terminology; Structured and Holistic Approach; Trust, Transparency and Engagement; Independence and Political Commitment; Recognition and Appreciation of Existing Work; and Flexibility.

Under Individual, the core principle is Inclusive, Diverse and Participative: "This is an issue for all of society and across these islands. The approach must be participatory to enable everyone to have ownership so that the lessons learned can be understood and shared amongst the widest possible cross-section of society." In everything they do, Healing Through Remembering makes sure the group is diverse, "but no head counts."

When they surveyed Northern Irish people to ask what sort of memorial they would need, the overwhelming response was that "the memorial people wanted was that it never happen again." So the organization's mission is making remembering an active and present activity, not just something about the past, but something that informs actions in the present, something that stays with you. "How you are remembering is about the here and now."

The organization has declared every June 21st, the longest day of the year, as a "Day of Reflection" and has prepared a guide for how to approach this day. "It is... an inclusive and positive experience that emphasizes a commitment to a peaceful new society. It provides a voluntary opportunity for everyone in Northern Ireland, The Republic of Ireland, Great Britain and further afield to reflect upon the conflict in and about Northern Ireland and the future that is before us."

When talking about the period of greatest sectarian violence (roughly 1968 to 1998 and a little beyond), Kate says it is important that each individual use whatever term they are most comfortable with: The Troubles; the War; the Terrorist Campaign; the Conflict; et cetera. 

"What do you call it?" I asked Kate. 

"We call it the Conflict in and around Northern Ireland. This emphasizes that it happened beyond just here. It did happen here, and also in the Republic, and in Britain, and in Europe, and in the World." 

Storytelling is central to Kate's vision, and she has organized a storytelling sub-group consisting of fourteen or fifteen people, who have issued reports and were the authors of the core ethical principles listed above. Kate's own background, before becoming Director, is in Psychology and administrative work in the voluntary sector.

"Some people want a Truth and Reconciliation Commission," Kate says, referring to the South African judicial process that is also a central part of our teaching at NHA. "But that's not the question. The question is, 'What will work for us?' We already have truth recovery, but the question is whether we can do something better."

Healing Through Remembering's voluminous "Conversation Guide to Dealing with the Past" includes beautiful images from its traveling exhibition "Ordinary Objects Transformed by the Troubles": a milk bottle used as a petrol bomb; a CS canister made into a lamp; a tobacco tin transformed into art at Crumlin Road Prison; a political T-shirt; photographs of burned out cars and buildings; PO boxes re-painted all-green or in the tricolors of the Union Jack; defaced coins; "Ulster says No" matchboxes; "We are the spongers" badges from 1974; a baby doll marred by a rubber bullet; a shrapnel fragment from the IRA bombing of the London Post Office tower; 1970's platform shoes used to smuggle bullets into prison; and on and on. This material just begs to be used by any teacher hoping to teach the Troubles period. Like a good playwright or storyteller, Kate's organization has recognized the revelation that is the character's relationship to an object. The Troubles are opened up and made everyday, so that we may feel empathy and impact all these years later, so that we may learn from it all as inquisitive and thoughtful students.

She put her hand on the enormous binder of materials she was giving us for free. "We are using objects as a way of opening up to story sharing."

While trauma work is a serious business, Kate maintains a great sense of humor. Dave pointed out that the back windows of her office seem to face the windows of the Adelaide Street flat we had rented just three days earlier. "You may have seen me coming out of the shower in a towel," he joked.

"Could be," she said, "I thought I felt a twinge of excitement the other day." 

It could not have been anywhere near as powerful as the twinge of excitement Dave and I both felt when we realized that Kate was actually giving us these teaching materials, which we both instantly recognized as a key to a magical door that will make this period both relevant and present in the minds of the students of NHA.

Gorgeously presented and deep materials donated to us by Kate

Still more amazing materials from Kate