Education is essential to personal and social transformation. Brooklyn Peace Center offers workshops, seminars and webinars on a wide range of topics related to the work of peacebuilding. Topics cover the wide and deep field of peacebuilding and conflict transformation, and our pedagogical approach places high value on intersectionality and context. Topics include, but are not limited to: trauma awareness and resilience-building, issues in international/local peace and conflict (historical and contemporary), antiviolence and antiracism, and more. There are currently two offerings.
Way of Circle
At Brooklyn Peace Center we are committed to the way of peace, collaboration and creativity, and shared power. We often gather in circles as a way of speaking and listening as a community. Join us for a new workshop called “The Way of Circle” beginning Thursday, May 18-19, 2023, from 9:00-12:30 pm. In this workshop, we will learn the lineages of this ancient practice, the principles of shared power, collaborative leadership, and the everyday work of gathering and holding the wisdom of the community. We hope community leaders, clergy and clinicians, artists and activists, will leave the workshop with more confidence to host Circle at their next meeting or gathering.
Our Guide: Chantilly Mers (she/hers), a Pasifika Circle-Keeper, ordained minister and founder of The Kin-dom Collective, is committed to communal healing and belonging. She is recovering and returning to Indigenous principles, philosophy and practices of Circle, which she believes expands our creative potential and collective power for a beautiful, liberating and life-sustaining future. Register at this link.
Wounded Healer: Trauma-informed Spiritual Care
This two-hour workshop introduces participants to key concepts related to trauma awareness, resilience-building, and ancient/contemporary spiritual practices.
Across religious traditions, spiritual disciplines, from breathwork and stillness to vocal harmonization (e.g., singing, chanting, etc.) and embodied practices (e.g., dancing, movement, etc.), provide a deep wellspring of resources to develop models of trauma-informed spiritual care.
Integrating neuroscience, models of nonviolent/antiviolent conflict transformation, and contemplative/embodied spirituality, the Wounded Healer workshop provides an introduction to the basic models, tools, and practices from which clergy, clinicians, and community workers are able to develop a trauma-informed approach to spiritual care that is both contextual and intersectional.
This workshop is designed for those who seek to understand how trauma impacts spiritual care, and who are working toward building peace within their spheres of influence.
STAR (Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience)
STAR 1 is a research-supported trauma awareness and resilience training program. STAR brings together theory and practices from neurobiology, conflict transformation, human security, spirituality, and restorative justice to address the needs of trauma-impacted individuals and communities.
STAR trainings are multi-cultural, multi-faith gatherings in which all are welcomed to use the language of their own cultures and faith traditions. Openness, sensitivity and respect are encouraged.
The training combines lectures with experiential and interactive activities. Learning happens through presentations, physical activity, creative expression, and interaction with other participants. At the end of the training participants will be able to bring a trauma-informed perspective to their personal and professional lives, present the basic concepts and use the tools with others.
To inquire about scheduling a workshop for your organization, complete the form on this page.
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