Heal the beloved country (Part 2: Imagining a large-scale plan)

We know that South African society is traumatized, that trauma shatters mind and society, and that unworked trauma repeats itself over generations. We also know that trauma impedes our ability to think together rationally and therefore we know that there is no way out of our current mess if we don't simultaneously deal with our collective underlying trauma.
 
What we don't know, is how to do this.

How do we work with our collective trauma, on a large scale, in a way that is safe and effective enough?
 
Let's imagine a possible plan, together...
 
As with individual trauma counselling, we will need a safe enough containing space and a competent counsellor, equipped with a suitable, well-researched method. As well as a committed patient.
 
Now let's scale this up to society as a whole.
 
Of course, we can't get 60 million people on the couch, once or twice per week. But let's say we focus on those people who have the greatest influence on the institutions that weave together the fabric of our society.  And let's say we take a two-pronged approach with them: 1) Working with their own experiences of belonging to our traumatized society, and 2) Assisting them to turn their institutions into systems that can contain anxiety, reduce the impact of underlying trauma, and release the creative potential of the people they employ and serve.
 
Firstly, to effectively work with their own experiences of belonging to our traumatized society, we divide a number of them into small groups that are, in fact, microcosms of society. We can call these Healing and Transformation (H&T) groups. And, seeing that we want to work with the complex dynamics of transgenerational collective trauma, which mostly lie deep below the surface of our conscious awareness, we make use of psychoanalytic approaches to group work, such as the group analytic and group relations approaches.
 
Secondly, in terms of assisting (education and consultancy) these leaders-of-organisations as they transform their institutions, we offer modules, workshops, conferences as well as organisational consultancy to participants in the H&T groups and their organisations. 
 
For adequate containment, we form an institution, a funding strategy and a coordinated communications strategy. We partner with local and international institutions.
 
Let's say we call this institution The South African Institute for Healing and Transformation (SAIHT), mandated to contain and propel the healing and transformation of South African society and the institutions composing it, through three main drives:

1. A network of Healing and Transformation Groups;
2. Education and Consultancy towards Institutional Transformation;
3. An Awareness and Encounter Campaign.

 
But how do we scale this kind of group work to include thousands of leaders, without watering it down to a pre-packaged conveyor-belt scenario?
 
By following a train-the-trainer approach.
 
Let's say we start by recruiting 550 professional group therapists and consultants, trained in either the group relations or group analytic traditions. Some of them from overseas. Most of them from South Africa.
 
Five hundred facilitators of small healing and transformation groups. Fifty supervision-facilitators to the five hundred, to provide a containing space for the facilitators to share and work through their own experiences in the groups.
 
Each facilitator takes two groups of ten participants. This means we start with 10 000 leaders of businesses, government departments, state-owned enterprises, schools, municipalities, hospitals, churches. Each group runs for two years. At the end of the two years, two participants per group, who show an aptitude for being future facilitators, are selected to embark on a two-year group facilitation training programme, which includes the co-facilitation of groups with current facilitators.
 
Meaning, after four years we will add 2000 additional facilitators. So, in year 5 we will have 2500 facilitators who can each take two groups of 10, so 50 000 new leaders enter into the programme in year 5. We again identify and train two new facilitators per group, so in year 9 we have 10 000 additional facilitators, 12500 facilitators in total, and 250 000 new participants.
 
You get the picture.
 
Yes, there will be attrition of facilitators, and yes, there will be groups that are less effective than others, and yes the exponential curve will flatten at some point, but in principle, if we follow a train-trainer approach, and if groups meet weekly, for two years, and if we continue to provide supervision-groups for the facilitators, we will have an intensive, high-quality experience of healing and transformation, on a large scale.
 
And remember, in addition to the Healing and Transformation groups, which will grow exponentially over time due to our train-the-trainer approach, we will get another leverage effect due to the fact that participants will be senior leaders and managers in organisations from across the South African spectrum. And we will also, in addition to the small healing and transformation groups, offer them education and consultancy specifically focused on the process or institutional transformation. So, through these leaders, we will also impact their organisations, staff, customers and other stakeholders.
 
An additional layer to the work of the SAIHT should probably be a proper, well-thought-through communications strategy. Our Awareness and Encounter Campaign. The purpose of the campaign is to spread a well-researched message regarding the process of healing from collective trauma, and creating opportunities for South Africans to encounter each other, across our many class and colour divides. We know that it is through encounters that projections are transformed and bridges are built. This could include:

1. Social media and mainstream media campaigns;
2. Music and art festivals;
3. Sporting events like a Transformation Run, Cycle Tour or Motorbike Rally.

 
I know this plan is imperfect, and I know I haven't discussed funding yet, but I think it is possible. What do you think? Are you willing to join and improve the plan as we move along to make it happen? Or do you see so many holes in the argument that you think we should rather do something completely different, or jump ship?