My name is Jeanne Van Bronkhorst and I am here to introduce our newly formed Responsible Relations Team. Aiyana Petronis, Kent Haden, Paula Steele and I came together in January, by request of our ministers, to become a resource for UUCV members and friends as we work through conflicts together.
Since January we’ve been getting ourselves ready to be as strong a support for this community as we can. We have shared our personal and professional experiences with conflict, gathered resources, taken workshops, and engaged in long discussions about what we hope to do. Here is what we’ve come up with.
Our Purpose
We support the UUCV in living into shared responsibility for healthy relationships. Grounded in the understanding that conflict is a part of healthy community life, we support processes and practices that help members engage conflict with skill, care, and accountability.
We Believe
- Conflict is a necessary part of healthy community life.
- Conflict can highlight and clarify our values, desires and needs.
- Conflict can deepen connection.
- Conflict is always a part of a dynamic, growing community.
We Support
- Building practices to support personal reflection, emotional regulation and skill-building.
- Identifying and accounting for power dynamics.
- Using inclusive and respectful language.
- Learning from each other’s lived experiences.
- Listening from a place of being willing to be changed by what we hear.
- Speaking from a place of wanting to be understood.
- Speaking honestly from our own experience.
- Practicing to improve, not perfect.
We Offer
- Consultations for UUCV members and friends about conflicts they are experiencing in this community.
- Communication tools and reflection questions to support healthy conflict.
- Facilitated conversations between UUCV members to support shared understanding.
- Experiential workshops focused on skill-building and personal growth.
- Links to other conflict management resources and supports.
Our first workshop is planned for October 18th, from 12pm-1pm in the Farmhouse, and will be facilitated by Aiyana and Paula. It will be an opportunity to play experientially with noticing our tendencies during conflict and building resources for showing up in ways that are aligned with our values. You don’t need to sign up in advance. Please contact Aiyana if you would like more information or have questions.
In the coming months we will be back in these pages with insights and resources we’ve discovered. We are glad to be able to offer this service to the UUCV and hope that you will find it useful as we go forward together.
The Responsible Relations Team: Paula Steele, Aiyana Petronis, Kent Haden, and Jeanne Van Bronkhorst