Bringing it All Together: Bringing Your Mind, Body, Spirit, and Heart into the Session

Guest writer Dr. Rachel Goldberg is presenting at the 2013 ACR Annual Conference

Goldberg and Blancke (Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2012) have proposed that integrated work – work that brings our whole selves into the session, and elicits whole engagement from parties -- may be the most powerful transformative tool we offer. They have proposed a framework for thinking about how to bring our minds, hearts, bodies, and spirits into our work in a way that protects the self-determination of parties, and Goldberg’s book on that topic will be coming out in 2014. However, the ideas in the book aren’t just ideas. The book features chapters by practitioners who are already using their emotional, somatic (body), and spiritual intelligence in their work as conflict specialists.

In fact, at the upcoming Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) annual conference a panel of authors from the book will be sharing stories from their practice and the ways they do this and the challenges they face. The workshop will be an opportunity for these and other practitioners to share stories of how they bring their full selves into their work and reflect on the ethics, concerns, and opportunities of this kind of work. Dr. Goldberg will briefly introduce the framework she developed with Dr. Blancke and their work on multi-dimensional practice. After that the workshop will consist of speakers sharing their practice stories and reflecting with the participants.

The goal will be to explore what we have learned: what works, what the obstacles are, what the pay off is for this kind of work – what kinds of benefits mediators and parties have experienced. And – what the risks are that we as a field need to engage to make sure this kind of work is fiercely protective of the self-determination of parties.

The practitioners who have been invited to be part of the panel are impressive and have already written sections of the forthcoming book. All have thought deeply about these issues and combine both experience as practitioners and reflection the strengths and challenges of this work.

They include: Paula Langguth Ryan (tri-chair of the ACR Spirituality Sector), Brandon Sipes (Founder of ReFrame, LLC), Dr. Kay Julian (transformative mediator and Christian theologian), Julia Morelli (President of Holistic Solutions, Inc.), Dr. Joy Meeker, (faculty at Saybrook University Graduate School), and Carolyn Parr (judge, mediator, and Special Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General (Tax) at the Department of Justice).

 

See Dr. Goldberg's presentation on Friday, October 11th, at 1:45 pm.

Dr. Goldberg has been active in the field of Conflict Studies for over 20 years and is an experienced and proficient scholar, practitioner, researcher, teacher, and trainer. She is  the supervisor of the Restorative Justice Program and assistant professor at DePauw University in Conflict Studies and head of her own consulting business, RMG Resilience.