Institute for Creative Conflict Engagement and Transformation

This 25-day institute will provide skills and tools needed by anyone interested in creating peace and justice – at home, in schools, in communities, and in the world. If dealing with conflict leaves you wanting something more effective and satisfying, Apply Today!

The core program will include:

• Understanding the difference between conflict engagement and conflict avoidance
• Conflict analysis and mapping; identifying interests, power dynamics, and leverage
• Compassionate Listening and Compassionate Communication – getting at the “heart” of the matter through empathic listening and effective communication of needs and interests
• Comprehensive training in the Alternative to Violence Project (basic, advanced, and training for facilitators), which will prepare participants to do their practicums as assistant facilitators in order to become fully certified as AVP facilitators; interested participants will connect with AVP programs in their home areas to encourage complete certification and engage actively with local programs
• Basic mediation and conflict assessment skills qualifying for certification that meets requirements for many states and organizations
• Restorative circles and restorative practices
• Clearness committees
• Forgiveness and reconciliation
• Love and nonviolence as “forces” more powerful – engaging the powers.

There will be lectures, films, and large and small group discussion – and a lot of experiential learning through doing and reflecting, role-playing, and practice sessions. Faculty bios are available here; you can click the following link to get a better sense of what to expect.

With the tools and skills offered in this intensive program, you will be better equipped and more confident to address conflicts in ways that help us move closer to the beloved community that Jesus, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King challenged us to live into. Quakers traditionally have been leaders in conflict transformation, and many of these methods have been introduced and honed by Friends in conflict situations, from families to prisons to post-genocide refugee resettlement abroad. Rise to the challenge and join them!

Suggested Reading: John Lampen’s Findings: Poets and the Crisis of Faith (PHP #310) and Answering the Violence: Encounters with Perpetrators (PHP #412); George Lakey’s Nonviolent Action: How it Works (PHP #129); and Dan Snyder’s Quaker Witness as Sacrament (PHP #397).

Click to complete the Conflict Transformation Institute application form (John Meyer, Education Coordinator, will contact you for a brief interview after your form has been received). For more information, please contact John at 610-566-4507, ext. 129.