Connecting with Nature Mindfully
I took up gardening a couple of years ago in an attempt to eat healthier and circumvent the rising cost of fresh produce at the grocery store. What I gained through that experience has been a reconnection, not only with the natural environment, but with myself. The routine of watering, weeding, and harvesting the vegetables […]
The Rewards of Celebrating Differences
One of the TREE workshops that I facilitated in the last session was with a Grade 1/2 split class, using the TREE Grade 2 curriculum. I really enjoyed working with the students and their teacher, since they were nice students who listened quite well and had high participation in group activities. But of course, some […]
Building Empathy
In the fourth week of TREE’s Grade 3 Conflict Resolution curriculum, the focus is on Empathy. How to build empathy for another person, and how to show empathy to another person. At the beginning of the class, the students are asked to share some of the feelings that they have experienced before. Everything from sad, […]
Setting Boundaries for Healthy Conversations
Being able to change the subject mid-conversation is really more of an art than anything else; being able to redirect a conversation is useful and powerful. No matter how gracefully you might be able to change the subject, there are some topics that come up again and again that you might not be in the […]
When Small Conflicts Feel Big
We all have a window of tolerance for managing stress, conflicts and challenges in any moment. In the best of times, we have a greater window of capacity to tolerate these stressors. At times, however, there will be stressors that shrink that window. It could be a big change, like moving to a new city, academic […]
Managing Conflict in Times of Stress
In times of high stress or anxiety, we respond in very different ways (see also: fight, flight, freeze, or fawn); some of us are extroverts, some are introverts, some people process internally by processing over time, others process externally by talking things through with others. All of these are exceptionally valid ways of navigating our […]
A Roadmap for Tough Conversations
It’s April 2020, and many of us are navigating new routines, and new ways of spending time with others. Many of us are staying home, or working with different stressors, which means that new challenges push on our limits, often bringing up intense emotions or overwhelm. On top of all of the new things coming […]
3 Approaches to Support Others in Conflict
As someone working in the peace and conflict field, friends often often ask for advice about a conflict they’re experiencing. Sometimes this is an issue with a friend or family member, sometimes they are experiencing conflict with a co-worker or supervisor, or sometimes the problem they are experiencing is with a system that is working […]
3 Tips for Building Conflict Resolution Skills with Teens
The teen years are a time of rapid change for the youth in our lives. During this time period, youth are further developing their concentration, reasoning skills and perspective-taking, while continuing to build their sense of self. Decisions about the future may become stressors, while simultaneously navigating increasingly complex relationships with their peers. Here are […]
5 Tips for Building Conflict Resolution Skills with Pre-Teens
The pre-teen years are a time of rapid change for the youth in our lives. Young people are busy working out who they are and where they fit into the world, in conjunction with a lot of physical, emotional, cognitive and social changes. During this time, these changes can happen quickly and seemingly unpredictable, which can be tough […]
