History
Mark Fish founded Room to Heal in 2007, having worked for over twenty years in counselling and psychotherapy. It was Mark’s experiences working in conflict resolution in Northern Uganda which planted the seed of Room to Heal.
He saw there first-hand the devastating effects of conflict on communities and grappled with the enduring question of how people can recover from such traumas. Mark found that removing people from the conflict and creating a safe forum where they could learn to relate to one another in new way, had profound effects. In talking about their darkest hours in a new environment the religious leaders with whom he was working could rediscover their faith and community.
Having returned to the UK, Mark worked with torture survivors at the Medical Foundation and the Helen Bamber Foundation but increasingly felt that targeting individuals was inadequate in helping people recover from trauma. As useful as counselling and psychotherapy can be in in beginning to reorient people, for substantial healing to take place he felt that a person needs to find community and a sense of belonging again.
This is why Mark started Room to Heal, hoping to create a safe forum, conducive to healing, where people could learn to relate to one another again and share the parts of themselves they usually kept hidden, the traumatised, shamed or hurt parts of themselves.
Room to Heal started with a group of four or five men. We now have over seventy members and four part-time staff, supported by twenty volunteers.