Mental Health and Telehealth
Organizations and Professional Events
AT through ATZ

Objectives:

• Provide a local forum for the exchange of ideas among professionals interested in group psychotherapy
• Encourage the training and education of group psychotherapists
• Elevate the standard of practice and the state of knowledge in the field

Conventional "peace educating" programs and resources generally address the Tertiary Level, or the managing conflict, by changing the delinquent behavior through physical or punitive means. Some programs and resources attempt to assist children in resolving conflict through intellectual means alone. Rarely do they attempt to help them understand the roots of conflict and how to defuse a potentially-violent situation.

Atrium Society's materials address the root of human conflict by helping us become aware of, and able to see through, our conditioning --to look with ever-fresh eyes on ourselves, others, and the world.

This conditioning has cultural and psychological components that are closely linked. Children have always been conditioned by their cultural background and by the expectations of their parents and caregivers. We all grow up believing that "we" are "the people," that our ways are the natural ways. "They" are unnatural and bad. Throughout most of human history this cultural conditioning has played an adaptive role in binding small groups together.

This psychological layer binds the cultural layer securely to the individual. Children are psychologically conditioned by rewards and punishments to try to act in culturally desirable ways ("good," "manly," "feminine", etc.), internalizing cultural norms. We never fully succeed. This creates a split between "the way I am," and "the way I should be." We project the "bad" part of us that does not meet the internalized norm out on "them." Because we feel inadequate and powerless, we identify with the powerful "us." At an unconscious level we think that if "we" can defeat "them" "we" can become even more powerful and can destroy that which is bad in us. It doesn't work, and in the process we do much damage both to ourselves and others.

We are at a critical juncture in human social evolution. Consumer culture is playing in increasing role in conditioning us and defining our values. The close-knit local tribes are now large ethnic groups and nations, and are armed and dangerous. The we-they drama is being played out all over the globe with disastrous consequences. A culture of violence and vicarious power permeates our media and entertainment, and is taking the lives of our youth. One universal solution is to be as heavily armed as possible for "security." Another response is to give children a heavier dose of conditioning in "traditional values" in an effort to make them more loyal to the moral authorities.

A deeper solution is to help all humans see more clearly the sources of conflict that result from their conditioning: both the psychological conditioning that results in a split between the way I am and the way I am taught I should be, and the cultural conditioning that distinguishes "us" from "them" and defines what is right and natural. Learning to see through these conditioned layers clearly, to look at our thoughts and reactions with openness and acceptance can heal the split and reunite the individual. It also gives the individual the power to choose. The very act of learning to look at ourselves with compassion and without judgment is inherently therapeutic. The potential for both personal and cultural transformation is immense. When we learn to see our conditioning clearly, to make decisions based on an understanding of who we really are and what we really need, then our relationships are based on what is rather than on our efforts to maintain a sense of security and control.

A very unique feature of Atrium Society's work is found in its Martial Arts for Peace Programs. They teach young people about all levels of conflict; Primary Level: Avoiding Conflict; Secondary Level: Resolving Conflict; and Tertiary Level: Humanely Managing Conflict.

Attention Deficit Disorders Association Southern Region [ADDA-SR] is an independent, nonprofit organization. The mission of ADDA-SR is:

• Provide a resource network
• Support individuals impacted by ADD
• Advocate for the development of community resources and services which meet the educational, social and health care needs of all individuals with ADD/ADHD
• Keep the public informed on the disorder through the media, the association newsletter and referral service, monthly chapter meetings, educational programs, parent and adult support services, and regional conferences and workshops