Care as a turning point in sociotherapy: remaking the moral world in post-genocide Rwanda

Community-based sociotherapy was introduced in Rwanda in 2005 in order to contribute to the healing of social worlds that were severely damaged by war and genocide. People who participate in sociotherapy perceive this intervention as medicine for their troubled hearts. Each sociotherapy group, averaging twelve people, holds fifteen weekly meetings. Two facilitators guide the group through six different phases: safety, trust, care, respect, new rules, and memory. It is mostly during the care phase that a substantial part of the participants experience a change in their lives, which is the beginning of the reparation of their morally shattered social world and, subsequently, the reconstruction of social capital in its entirety. The analysis of this process is based on qualitative research about the practice of sociotherapy and its impact on the communities where it is practiced.