Community Boards’ Conflict Resolution Clinics are intensive, two-hour workshops designed for both new and experienced conflict resolution practitioners, attorneys, HR managers, specialists, and other interested individuals. Led by seasoned professionals, these clinics cover an exciting variety of topics and conflict resolution and restorative justice practices.
2026 Conflict Resolution Clinics
JULY
Empathy Amidst Conflict: A Pathway to See Ourselves and
Others
With Nethra Samarawickrema, PhD
July 30, Thursday, 5:30-7:30pm PDT
CB Member: $25 | Public: $45
Live Interactive Workshop on Zoom
Registration closes on July 30, 5:30pm PDT
Why is it often hardest to be understood by the people we are closest to?
When conflict arises in close relationships, it can feel especially painful. We experience disconnection from those with whom we share deep bonds, transforming close relationships into places where we feel unseen. Misunderstandings repeat, defenses rise, and connection starts to slip away.
Nethra’s workshop offers a different path.
Blending insights from Nonviolent Communication, anthropology, and design thinking, you’ll learn how to help people move beyond stuck patterns and into a genuine sense of understanding and mutual recognition. At the heart of this approach is a powerful idea: when people feel truly seen and understood, new possibilities for connection and resolution naturally emerge.
You’ll explore how to create a strong, safe “container” for mediation—one that supports honesty, curiosity, and emotional clarity. Through guided exercises, you’ll learn how to help each party slow down, connect with their own needs, and express them in ways that invite understanding rather than escalation.
This workshop is deeply practical and experiential, offering tools you can use right away to support more meaningful, human-centered dialogue—even in the most challenging situations.
You’ll learn how to:
- Create a sense of safety and openness that allows real dialogue to happen
- Guide parties in developing self-empathy and identifying what truly matters to them
- Support each person in recognizing and empathizing with the other’s experience
- Use reflective listening and perspective-taking to bridge differences and reduce conflict
- Facilitate conversations that move from disconnection to insight—and toward shared solutions
If you’ve ever wished for a way to help people feel truly heard in conflict, this workshop will give you a clear, thoughtful path forward.
Nethra Samarawickrema, PhD
Nethra is an anthropologist and coach who helps people align their lives and work with their values. She supports her clients in recalibrating their relationship to work, navigating life transitions, and releasing painful patterns that recur in their lives. She coaches her clients to attune to their needs, make values-aligned decisions, and hold boundaries that support their well-being. She teaches listening and conflict resolution skills and runs a bi-weekly group called The Holding Space that supports people in deepening these skills.
Nethra also helps organizations redesign workplace cultures, drawing on anthropology, design thinking, and Nonviolent Communication to train teams in transforming their communication to enhance collaboration. She holds a PhD in Anthropology from Stanford University and has trained teams across tech, nonprofits, public libraries, and academic institutions. Visit Nethra’s website: www.workwithnethra.com.
After registering, you will receive the Zoom information by email.
AUGUST
We Keep Us Safe: Practical Tools from Unarmed Civilian Protection
With Gilda Bettencourt
August 27, Thursday, 12:00-2:00pm PDT
CB Member: $25 | Public: $45
Live Interactive Workshop on Zoom
Registration closes on August 27, 12:00pm PDT
What helps people stay safer in moments of tension, conflict, or uncertainty — without relying on weapons, force, or escalation?
Join Gilda Bettencourt of Nonviolent Peaceforce for a practical two-hour introduction to Unarmed Civilian Protection, a growing global field rooted in the belief that communities can build safety through presence, preparation, relationship, and courageous nonviolence.
This workshop will introduce participants to the core ideas behind Unarmed Civilian Protection as practiced by Nonviolent Peaceforce around the world. Together, we’ll explore simple, usable tools that can help people respond more effectively in conflict situations, including how to pause, assess what is happening, manage our own nervous systems, and make safer choices in real time.
Participants will learn about holistic check-ins, situational awareness, and the OODA loop: Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. These tools are useful not only in international peacekeeping contexts, but also in everyday settings where conflict, stress, or uncertainty can arise.
At the heart of this workshop is a powerful reminder: we cannot de-escalate what is happening around us if we have not first learned how to steady ourselves. This session is designed for people who care about community safety, conflict transformation, nonviolence, and practical ways to protect one another.
No prior experience is required. Bring your curiosity, your questions, and your commitment to building safer communities.
Participants will leave with:
A basic understanding of Unarmed Civilian Protection and how Nonviolent Peaceforce practices it around the world.
Practical tools for increasing safety without escalating conflict.
An introduction to holistic check-ins, situational awareness, and the OODA loop: Observe, Orient, Decide, Act.
A deeper understanding of why self-regulation is essential to effective de-escalation.
New language and frameworks for thinking about community safety, nonviolence, and conflict response.
New skills or insights participants will gain
How to pause and assess a conflict situation before reacting.
How to use situational awareness to make safer decisions.
How internal de-escalation supports external de-escalation.
How unarmed, relationship-centered strategies can help protect civilians and communities.
Gilda Bettencourt
Gilda Bettencourt has been part of Nonviolent Peaceforce since its founding in 2003 and has helped organize the organization’s trainings from its earliest days. Through her work with NP supporters and volunteers, she supports efforts to increase civilian safety, strengthen community-based protection, and promote peace through nonviolent action.
Gilda brings a long-standing commitment to the belief that people and communities can play an active role in protecting one another. Her work is grounded in the principles of Unarmed Civilian Protection, a practical approach used by Nonviolent Peaceforce in conflict-affected communities around the world. Visit Nonviolent Peaceforce’s website.
After registering, you will receive the Zoom information by email.
Clinic Cancellation & Transfer Fees
If you cancel more than 24 hours before the clinic start time, there is a $7.50 cancellation fee. This fee will be waived one time if registration is transferred to a subsequent clinic that begins within twelve months of the training start date. No refunds for cancellations 24 hours or less before the clinic start time.
QUESTIONS?
Trainings: Liz Gewirtz, Interim Mediation and Restorative Justice Coordinator
lgewirtz@communityboards.org
General inquiries: Jim Garrison, Communications Director, jgarrison@communityboards.org