The Satir Group at the Ramle Open House
The Virginia Satir Model: Advancing Jewish-Arab Partnerships and Understanding
Facilitated by Tali Aharony and Gila Cohen, clinical psychologists and family and relationship counselors.
The Satir model was developed as a tool for family therapy and is centered on the belief that the individual can change (STST – Satir Transformational Systemic Therapy). The Ramle Open House, a community center for co-existence, uses this model to advance partnerships and understanding between the city’s Jewish and Arab residents.
The workshop outlined the model’s tenets, which participants applied through a group exercise. Two aspects of the model are especially relevant to groups in conflict.
- Establishing and strengthening one’s sense of self-worth: Vital individuals are much better equipped to cope with the world without resorting to survival or reactionary mechanisms. Self-worth is also related to the belief that all people are equal, regardless of their origin, class, or gender.
- The iceberg as a metaphor for expanding self-awareness, developing tolerance and acceptance, and resolving conflicts. The individual’s inner world is seen as an iceberg – most of which is submerged and not visible. The metaphor serves as a roadmap for exploring our complex inner worlds.
Among other things, conflicts cause the individual to adopt a narrow and one-sided viewpoint. Using the iceberg metaphor, we gain skills for breaking free of restrictions and seeing the picture in its entirety, while experiencing the “other’s” viewpoints, feelings, and expectations.
Resolving conflicts is accomplished through acceptance, not arguing or negation. Acceptance is rooted in listening sensitively and precisely to what the “other” wants. Human wants are universal, and they are always positive and legitimate. The listener is invited to accept both themselves and the “other.” As a result, what seemed impossible is now possible – including seemingly intractable conflicts. Applied worldwide, the Satir Model has proven effective at creating and improving communication, raising self-esteem, and broadening acceptance of one’s inner self and the “other” as a way for coping with difference.
Over the last two years, the Ramle Open House has worked to apply these principles in a pilot program with Jewish and Arab facilitators.
