Ku’ikahi Mediation Center Presents Workshop on Conflict

Dr. Gay Barfield has been invited to teach “From Conflict to Connection” by the Ku’ikahi Mediation Center.

The workshop will take place for the first time on the Big Island at the Girl Scout Guild/Neighborhood Place of Puna in Kea’au on April 18 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“Many of us are terrified of conflict as being inevitably harsh and harmful. Due to our past experiences with anger and upset, we are used to conflicts fraught with fear, failure, and fractured relationships. The result? Even normal arguments or differences create reactions in us of avoidance, placating, or sudden escalation,” said Dr. Barfield.

Anyone who is interested in understanding and better handling conflict is invited to attend the half-day workshop, with a specific target audience of human relations professionals, managers, and business owners, as well as people in helping professions, such as educators, and those who work with young people or have children, family members, and spouses or partners.

Attendees will learn how to engage in spirited fighting as they maintain personal integrity. Dr. Barfield will also teach participants how to make the first move toward reconciliation and how to increase compassion and caring. Those in attendance will also learn how to foster a sense of ease at home, in the workplace, and across cultures, in addition to setting personal aims for making change.

Barfield, Ph. D, Lic. MFT, is a human relations educator, trainer, consultant, and therapist who specializes in Carl Rogers’ person-centered approach to diversity, conflict dialogue, and listening across difference, whether they are at work or home, communicating cross-culturally or between genders.

For nearly 30-years, Barfield was a Fellow of Center of Studies of the Person, where she created one of the Women’s Centers in San Diego and the Living Now Institute. Along with Carl Rogers, Barfield founded and co-directed the Carl Rogers Institute for Peace.

Currently, Barfield offers workshops throughout the world, mentors young therapists, and writes about her own experiences over the past 40-years as a “gatherer,” social activist, and stubborn idealist.

Tuition costs $50. Group discounts and partial scholarships are available.

Those interested in attending the workshop can register by contacting the Ku’ikahi Mediation Center’s Executive Director, Julie Mitchell, at 935-7844, ext. 5, or e-mail julie@hawaiimediation.org.