This past September's meeting on conflict resolution and de-escalation facilitated by Amber Boydston and Mac Smiff of Ease & Abudance LLC is a great example of this important training. Attendees learned skills and had opportunities to practice techniques to deal with conflicts
that arise in our organizing spaces and everyday life. Below are testimonies from this training:
Thank you RTR for offering the conflict resolution and de-escalation training with Amber Boydston and Mac Smiff of Ease and Abundance! This is not a topic for which we can learn too much, but rather one for which we can engage in an ongoing learning process and become more grounded and skilled. I have attended a myriad of similar trainings over the years, but still happily
learned more from Amber and Mac. In addition to the utmost skill that Amber and Mac bring to their teaching, they also have a gift for helping you feel braver to step into the learning process. They help you to take your skills another step forward, and cultivate your understanding another layer deeper. This was a great training for the times we are in!
-Annie Meneakis
It was my pleasure to attend the Conflict resolution and de-escalation workshop!
Respond To Racism is doing such a great job providing safe space for speakers/educators to provide valuable content. I always leave an event thinking I'm better informed and better equipped to do my part in dismantling rasism both within myself and in the community.
It's my experience that anything Amber boydstom (co-)facilitates is excellent. Mac Smiff was new to me and I thoroughly appreciated him as well.
-Ben
Price
Saturday's conflict resolution and de-escalation workshop with Amber Boydston and Mac Smiff of Ease and Abundance! was a nice balance of informative and interactive. The workshop emphasized that the choices of words we use and how we use them can make a huge difference in de-escalating a tense situation, and that focusing on the primary issue rather than peripheral, emotional triggers, can ensure a fair and equitable resolution. I learned about
my own biases during the group activities and realized that those biases effect how I interact with others, even when I am not aware of them. I highly recommend this workshop and propose that it be offered in an expanded, 2-day format to allow more time for interactive activities that will reinforce the lessons provided.
-Courtney Fuller
