WHAT WE DO
We help organizations, communities and professionals actively resolve miscommunication. Participants re-script their past via experiential learning. They use guided improvisations to do in a workshop setting what they can’t always do in real life. We provide opportunities for participatory community reconciliation. We help heal the psychic wounds of people and groups historically in conflict. We don’t take sides.
WHY??
Just ask communities like Christchurch NZ, Charlottesville VA, Las Vegas, or Baltimore. Ask burned-out first responders, international aid workers, mediators and policy-makers. The US – and the world – is becoming increasingly polarized, and long-buried differences are erupting into conflict.
Clearly just talking about the problem and drafting new policies is not enough! It’s time to “act out the change you want to see in the world.”
HOW??
In groups of 15-30 people, we warm up to the topic, such as:
- Organizational challenges (values, communication, discrimination)
- Community trauma (protests, exclusion, powerlessness)
- Being a more effective leader or professional (de-activating hot buttons)
- Unresolved historical events between social groups (ideological, ethnic, racial)
WHAT MAKES US UNIQUE
We believe in giving leaders and communities the tools and insight to heal their past. We believe in the power of understanding, empathy and voicing the inner “good, bad and sometimes ugly” in order to move forward. We believe in the indomitability of the human spirit.
- The anthropological perspective of non-judging, multiple valid viewpoints. Some are “socially unpopular” but nevertheless hunger to be voiced.
- Participants are the experts — not the facilitator.
- Active experiential learning is more effective than a mere “information dump.” Our brains are wired for live experience, even in today’s tech-dependent society.
- Trauma does not need to have lifelong effects; more often it produces post-traumatic growth.
- Understanding yourself leads to understanding others.
FOUNDER/DIRECTOR Andrea C Hummel is trained in multicultural diversity, mediation and trauma recovery. She holds a Masters in applied anthropology from American University (Washington DC), with post-graduate studies in intercultural conflict mediation at the Intercultural Communication Institute (Portland OR). She is trained in WorldWork (with Arnie Mindell), ShadowWork (with Cliff Barry) and Multi-Track Diplomacy. She also holds a theory certification in TSM psychodrama for post-traumatic growth, and has presented at conferences both in the US and abroad.
In 1991 Andrea founded a consulting firm specializing in cultural diversity; provided trainings, cultural needs assessments and human relations consulting; and was an adjunct faculty member at University of Florida and Manatee Community College. Initially her focus was on preventing conflict (via cultural understanding); now it is on resolving conflict (via facilitated improvisations). She is the developer of the cutting-edge I4P (Improv for Peace) method for helping individuals and communities increase empathy, decrease miscommunication and create alternate endings to historical conflict. No stranger to staying focused during crisis, she was in the Middle East during the 1990 Kuwaiti oil crisis, Guatemala during the 1995 refugee persecutions, and Greece during the 2015 refugee crisis.
Past clients include: Micosukee Tribe of Indians, Recover! Charlottesville, US Navy STRICOM, AmeriCorps, Equifax, Children’s Board of Hillsborough Co., Florida Department of Child and Family Services, Eckerd College and University of Tampa.
PARTNERS: We partner with a variety of highly-skilled professionals with backgrounds in corporate culture, personal development, trauma work, diversity, psychology and group psychodrama.