OUR STORY.
YayGyiYar Centre for Positive Change is a non-profit organization bridging mental health and conflict transformation for Myanmar displaced and diaspora communities. We work at the critical nexus where mental health and conflict transformation meet.
YayGyiYar believes that addressing trauma can open up possibilities for resilience and changing war‑related identities.
Our Holistic Mental Health Framework.
Our work is grounded in values that focus on community harmony, peer-engagement and collective wellbeing. We integrate body-healing practices.
- Somatic body workshops, including yoga, massage and Feldenkrais therapies
- Psychological interventions that promote present-moment awareness, emotional regulation and reducing avoidance behaviors.
- Art clubs that bring together peer-groups that build a better future.
A Collective Effort.
YayGyiYar is a collective effort because we believe that none of this would be possible without the networks of solidarity that sustain us. Our key Inputs:
- The lived expertise and cross-cultural knowledge of our team.
- A growing network of MHPSS practitioners, conflict transformation specialists, researchers, and community facilitators..
- An existing body of culturally adapted knowledge, methodologies, and practice tools.
Our Interdisciplinary Approach.
YayGyiYar works at a nexus in the humanitarian, development and peacebuilding field: the space where mental health and conflict transformation meet. We bring these together because we know from experience and evidence that they cannot be separated.
Unhealed trauma perpetuates conflict, and ongoing conflict prevents psychological recovery. Traditional approaches address these separately, missing the feedback loops between individual suffering and community-level violence. We hold both together — in our programming, our training, our research, and our network.
