"I wanted to humanize them" Guest: Jo Berry

My guest Jo Berry is Founder of ‘Building Bridges for Peace’ and works to resolve conflict around the world. Sixteen years after her father was killed by an IRA bomb, Jo met with the man responsible after he was released from prison and left the IRA. Their initial meeting led Jo Berry and Patrick Magee to speak on over three hundred occasions on a shared platform around the world. Jo explains what the conditions that make an encounter with someone who killed your dad possible and what the reactions were from people surrounding this brave choice including the British government who her father worked for. She also describes how one can overcome their sense of fear and betrayal and what can help people living in other conflicting countries. Jo advocates empathy, listening to people’s stories and seeing humanity in the other during her emotional journey. To visit the website of the Center Jo Berry mentions, click here: https://glencree.ie/. When Jo said that trauma stays in the body, I remembered the amazing book that talks about this, called ‘The Body keeps the score’ by Bessel Van Der Kirk.