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Offerings for individuals and communities outside the humanitarian and development sectors

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Transforming conflicts into opportunities in daily life

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For many of us this difficult past year of lockdowns and limited socialising has put huge pressure on close relationships and heightened our awareness of just how much we long to connect with other people.  We’re done with solitude!

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But making those connections isn’t always easy.  How do we get from “Oh, why the hell have you done X again?” and several hours of tense silence or full on arguing, to a place where we can communicate clearly and enjoy our time together?

 

In these courses, we will draw from the ideas and tools of Non-Violent Communication to deeply explore and practice the skills to transform everyday conflicts into opportunities: for meeting and understanding ourselves. and for building better relationships.

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This learning process will run in two parts:

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1) Me and conflict

An introductory course in which we will explore our own personal relationship to conflict, our current habits (thoughts, feelings and behaviours) and then learn and practice alternative ways for responding that connect us more deeply to ourselves and to others.

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Objectives of the training: To

  • Explore the feelings that usually come in difficult situations and notice the behaviours you have in response;

  • Practice noticing the stories you have built up around a situation and distinguishing these from the facts;

  • Practice leaning in to yourself: noticing and connecting with feelings in the body, and noticing your own needs;

  • Practice using empathetic listening as a tool to hear others differently, in a way that causes you less anger, stress and sadness;

  • Practice expressing yourself in a non-violent, assertive way to enable you to meet more of your own needs at the same time as strengthening your relationship with the other person.

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What will you be able to do after this training:

  • Understand yourself better: your emotions, needs, triggers and habitual behaviours in conflict;

  • Communicate with more clarity and with more chance of meeting your needs;

  • With the internal tools to understand communication challenges differently, you will find more joy in your relationships.

How: In small groups on Zoom. This will be an experiential learning process in which theory is discovered and explored through activities like personal story-telling, art activities, physical theatre and body-breath activities, small group and pair work.  Creating a warm, supportive learning environment is a priority for me.  Individual reflection will enable learning to be personal and embedded; and group sharing will enable rich peer learning and supportive community to develop.

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When: 4 x 2.5 hr sessions (including 2 breaks) on Wednesday mornings 9.30 UK time/ 10.30 European time on October 27th, November 10th, November 17th & November 24th

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Cost: £120 / 140 Euros

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2) Supporting others in conflict

An advanced course that will build on the learning gained in the first part of this learning journey to explore the skills, tools and qualities for compassionately holding dialogue or mediation between people in conflict.  We will practice holding both formal and informal mediation so that you have the confidence and skills to support family members, firends or community members to hear, understand each other and re-connect.

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**You need to have attended the first module ('Conflict and Me') to be able to take part in this module.

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This training process will draw on ideas from non-violent communication, peacebuilding theory and my experience of holding dialogue and building peace in the UK and Myanmar.

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Objectives of the training: To

  • Understand and be able to use deep, empathetic listening to enable people in conflict to feel heard and understood;

  • Practice being with live conflict with calm and patience;

  • Understand the steps of a mediation and be able to use them flexibly;

  • Be able to formulate and use transformative questioning to enable people in conflict to imagine a way forwards.

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What will you be able to do after this training: Support people who are in conflict to

  • Better understand what is causing the conflict

  • Hear each other and develop empathy for the experience of the other

  • Begin to let go of their 'position' and imagine ways to meet each others' needs​

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How: On Zoom. This will be an experiential learning process in which theory is discovered and explored through activities like personal story-telling, art activities, physical theatre and body-breath activities, small group and pair work.  Creating a warm, supportive learning environment is a priority for me.  Individual reflection will enable learning to be personal and embedded; and group sharing will enable rich peer learning and supportive community to develop.

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When: 6 x 2.5 hr sessions (including 2 breaks) on Wednesday mornings 9.30 UK time/ 10.30 European time on December 1st, 8th, 15th 2021 & January 12th, 19th & 26th 2022

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Cost:  £180 / 210 Euros

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