Building Bridges of Healing: Oleander Initiative in the UK
This April, the Oleander Trauma Recovery, Resilience and Peace Program traveled from Hiroshima to London, bringing lessons of peace culture to more than 500 mental health professionals, educators, and students. Led by Program Director Kanade Kurozumi and three team members, the initiative showcased how connections forged in Hiroshima can foster resilience and healing across continents.
Six Years of Connection
The program was the culmination of six years of collaboration linking Hiroshima’s peacebuilding community with the UK’s mental health sector. It began in 2019, when Tam Martin Fowles, a trauma recovery specialist from London, attended the Oleander Complexity of Peace program in Hiroshima. Inspired, Tam and her organization Hope in the Heart, CIC launched mental health workshops rooted in the themes she encountered in Japan.
Her work flourished, and in 2024 she returned to Hiroshima with a delegation of British mental health professionals. The following year, the Oleander Initiative reciprocated by sending four peacebuilders to the UK, continuing this cycle of exchange and collaboration.
Sharing Hiroshima’s Peace Culture
The team’s UK journey began at Essex University, where they presented on the connections between Hiroshima’s peace culture, wellbeing, and trauma recovery to more than 100 clinical psychology students. The visit included an origami workshop, allowing students to experience the creative practices tied to resilience.
From there, they engaged 360 students and faculty at Ark Pioneer Academy, presenting the Hiroshima Resilience Project and hosting reflective discussions with teachers. On the same day, they delivered their program The Politics of Empathy to faculty and students at London South Bank University.
Healing Through Art
The final stop was the Battersea Arts Centre, where the team visited the Messages from the HeART exhibition, featuring artwork by individuals with lived experiences of mental health challenges. The Oleander team also led an origami workshop focusing on how art fosters trauma recovery and resilience.
A Living Exchange
This initiative would not have been possible without the creativity and dedication of Kanade and Tam, whose partnership continues to transform peacebuilding into a living exchange across borders. The program reflects how communities benefit when peacebuilders and mental health practitioners come together, sharing lessons of empathy, resilience, and healing.
As Director Ray Matsumiya reflected:
“The Oleander Trauma Recovery, Resilience and Peace Program is an amazing example of how communities benefit when dedicated peacebuilders connect across continents. We look forward to the next evolution of this incredible connection.”
Learn more here: https://oleanderinitiative.org