Larisa Kasumagic Discusses Non-Violent Communication

Larisa Kasumagic is an educator from Bosnia and Herzegovina who has worked with organizations offering psycho-social support for war-traumatized children and their families. Kasumagic attended Facing History's Global Symposium during the Summer of 2005. In this clip, videotaped in 2004 when Kasumagic attended a Facing History Institute, she talks about the how non-violent communication can be used as a tool for trauma in post-war societies.
Transcript: 
"My whole education that I've been through for 18 years at the time did not help me cope with the war. And in that moment when the war broke out, there was the essence, you know, to survive, to have a tool you know to stay sane, and I didn't have those skills, I didn't know how to cope with what was the reality of the time. So I realize that what I learned in school didn't really help me. In that particular moment of feeling lost and confused, it didn't really help me....

So I think that through nonviolent communication we are trying to fill in that gap that was missing, that we recognized was missing. And for me it has a lot to do with safety. Because we are providing the space for people to become more of themselves, to become more of their own reactions, their own feelings, what they need. Once people recognize that they need safety, it's a huge step. It's a huge discovery."
Video length: 
1 min 00 sec
Date filmed: 
Jun 15 2004