Module IV: Additional Methods of Conflict Resolution

Module IV: Additional Methods of Conflict Resolution

This chapter introduces students to seven additional interventions that helping professionals can use with clients, coworkers, and others. You can use this chapter in a number of different ways:

• Ask students to read the entire chapter, or ask them to read selected sections depending on the types of conflict resolution (CR) interventions that you want to cover in class.
• Integrate specificsections from this introduction to Module IV into your work on other chapters. For instance, “fact finding” could be discussed when your class is working on the negotiation chapter, or “peacebuilding” could be discussed when your class is working on the facilitation chapter. As noted in Module IV, these CR interventions can be used independently or in combination with other methods of CR intervention.
• Use Module IV for independent study and assignments. For instance, rather than cover the chapter in class, you could invite student groups to select a particular section of Module IV to focus upon for their assignments (e.g., online dispute resolution). Student groups can then write a paper or develop a presentation based on their chosen section.

When covering material from this chapter, you could relate it back to the principles of restorative justice described in Chapter 3 (e.g., “How well does fact finding fit with these principles?” or “Which applications of spiritual healing might fit best with the restorative justice principles?”).

Fact Finding

The concept of fact finding is simple to describe, but often difficult to operationalize for practice. In some ways, this is the same issue that arises for “identifying objective criteria” in Chapter 5 on rights-based negotiation. I have found that providing students with lots of examples helps them understand the process of fact finding and how it can differ greatly from case to case. There is no one formula that fits all cases. You might be able to provide suggestions for different types of fact-finding issues. For instance, if the professionals are disagreeing about the effectiveness of a particular clinical intervention or social policy, joint fact finding could include creating a committee of professionals who would work together on a literature review, identifying and critiquing research on the effectiveness of the clinical intervention, and creating a joint brief on their findings.

If a probation officer believes that a client needs “anger management” training and the client disagrees, what type of fact finding might help determine whether the client actually needs this service? For instance, the client could be referred to an independent specialist for an assessment, or the probation officer and client could agree to monitor the client’s behavior, attitudes, and emotions, over a period of time in order to collect data to make an informed decision.

This could be a good place in the course to introduce students to “critical thinking” literature. Too often, people state conclusions without backing them up. Also, people often present false arguments, often unaware that they are doing so (as discussed in Chapter 2 under cognitive distortions). Critical thinking literature can help students with methods of helping clients analyze factual disputes from a critical thinking perspective. You could give students examples of faulty thinking and ask them how they could help people think more critically:

• An advocate argues, “Marriage has to be between a man and a woman because it has always been that way.”Or “It is safer for transgender people to use the bathroom that corresponds to the sex that is written on their birth certificate.” What is the advocate’s argument? What are the problems with this reasoning? What types of arguments would be more persuasive, based on a critical thinking perspective?
• A client in mediation between neighbors suggests, “How do I know she stole my cat? You know how those Gypsies are. They’re very dishonest. I also read an article about how they use cats to make their magic potions.” What are the assumptions between the client’s statements? How can you help the client by using a fact-finding process?

Consider bringing an ombudinto the class as a guest speaker (e.g., from the university, a government agency, or the private sector). Although the role of an ombudgoes beyond fact finding, you could have the guest discuss his or her fact-finding role (as well as other roles).

Trust Building

In prior chapters(and perhaps in other courses),students have learned a variety of ways to build trust: demonstrating empathy, unconditional positive regard, genuineness, caring, neutrality, and confidentiality. These are typically used as methods of building trust between workers and their clients. In this section, the focus is on how to help conflicting parties develop trust (so the helping professional may be facilitating trust between others, rather than trying to build trust between worker and client). Some of the trust-building measures can be role-played in class, but some measures take place over extended periods of time and cannot be simulated in class.Demonstrating predictability or reliability, for instance, may require a person or group to act in a predictable or reliable manner for weeks, months, or even years. Likewise, facilitating mutual experiences might be something that needs to be done in the community, over an extended period. When trust has been severely fractured and conflict has become aggravated over an extended period, it will take time to repair the trust.

Peacebuilding

The concept of peacebuilding sounds very appealing. One of the challenges is how to operationalize this term. Because peacebuilding may sound amorphous (or naïve), it is useful for students to learn specific strategies that can and have been used to promote peace. You can use international conflicts to describe peacebuilding efforts that have been effective, ineffective, or only partially effective. Help students understand the differences between cold peace and warm peace, and how peacebuilding may take place in stages. When discussing peacebuilding in class, it might be useful to have a guest speaker who specializes in peace and humanitarian work. One of my guest speakers invited our students to participate in a mock humanitarian disaster, where students from various disciplines were brought together for a weekend experience to gain an intimate understanding of what it was like to work in a war zone. Representatives from Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, or other organizations may make effective guest speakers (if it’s difficult for them to come in person, bring them in virtually, using video conferencing).

Some critics of CR believe that CR can be used to oppress people, or prevent them from advocating for social justice. The concept of justpeace is useful because it shows the interconnection between justice and peace. The textbookprovides different examples of how to promote peace by helping people fulfill their physical, psychological, and social needs. Ask students for other examples of how conflicts have arisen when people’s needs have not been fulfilled (e.g., riots by Muslims in France or Belgium, Russia’s takeover of Ukrainian territory, outbreaks of violence by prisoners, strikes by laborers, or protests by students facing rising tuitions).

Parenting Coordination

Unlike some of the other interventions described in this chapter, parenting coordination is an intervention that is designed specifically for one type of conflict—separations where the parents have been involved in high conflict and they need help in order to avoid psychosocial harm to their children. This is also a good topic for inviting a guest speaker who has practiced in this area. This is a relatively new method of intervention, so there are many different approaches to parenting coordination, different laws, and ethical rules that govern the role of parenting coordinators (and often, absence of laws), and the jury is still out on its risks and benefits (in other words, there is relatively little empirical research to date). For updated information, the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts is a good source ( Students should note that being a parenting coordinator is very challenging. Many parenting coordinators first work in other capacities in the field before becoming a parenting coordinator (e.g., a family mediator or a family therapist).

Family Group Conferencing

Family group conferences (FGCs) can be used for various types of conflict within families (including extended families). They have been used most frequently for conflicts with child protection or juvenile justice concerns. You could ask students to think about other possible uses for FGCs, for instance, family members concerned about an elder with diminished cognitive and physical abilities who needs a higher level of care but fears he’ll be locked up in a nursing home with no autonomy or respect; family members running a joint business but have a falling out over the future of the business; family members concerned about a relative with a drug problem, even though there have been no criminal charges or involvement of child protective services; or family concerns about a relative who is potentially suicidal after losing a job.

One of the challenges for professionals who are facilitating FGCsis how to trust the family. Although it sounds easy to trust the family, professionals are used to being in greater control of the intervention process. Although FGCs vary in structure and process, the helping professional has more control during the preparation and orientation stages, but must relinquish control for the middle stages of the conferencing process. In some cases, the helping professional actually leaves the room and lets the family work through issues by themselves. When the helping professional comes back to the room, the family may present a plan that the professional may not agree with. The professional must be careful not to reject a plan just because it is not what the professional would recommend. Families have a right to create with their own plans, even if this means setting themselves up for possible failure. At what point does the professional have an ethical or legal obligation to override the family’s agreement? Is it up to the helping professional to override the family’s agreement, or is the court the only body that can override the family’s agreement?

Spiritual Healing

This section includes several interventions that can be used to promote spiritual healing (broadly defined). Once again, these interventions are meant to be illustrative rather than exhaustive. There are many other ways to promote spirituality within CR processes. One of the challenges for some students is separating the notion of spirituality and religion. One can promote spirituality without invoking religion. Also, students may have learned that they are not supposed to impose religion on clients. While this is true, you can help them to see the benefit of offering religious components to the CR process, without imposing them. The degree to which spiritual or religious components may be introduced into CR processes may depend on the mandate and policies of the professional’s agency.

Art

To demonstrate how art can be used for promoting spiritual healing, you could bring in an art therapist. Encourage students to think of art broadly (not just paintings or sculptures, but writings, performances, and other creative expressions; not just works by professionals, but creations by novices and in deed, anyone). Show students paintings, videos, plays, speeches, online poetry, or other works of art, and invite them to reflect on how art can lead to spiritual healing.

Ritual and Prayer

As noted earlier, some students may raise concerns about bringing religion into their professional practice. This concern may be particularly important in relation to the use of ritual and prayer. There are risks to using ritual and prayer in CR, so these should be noted along with the potential benefits. Also, ask students for ways that the risks can be reduced (e.g., if the risk is that the helping professional will lose neutrality or professional focus, the clients could discuss bringing in an independent person to facilitate the ritual or prayer, rather than have the professional do so). Trya ritual in class and have students reflect on this experience (you could make one up, or use one that other groups use, e.g., reading the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous [AA], or inviting a Native American elder to perform a smudging ceremony). Concerns that students may raise include stealing, co-opting, or disrespecting another group’s rituals and prayers; whether rituals or prayers belong in a university or CR course; or lack of informed consent for participating in such a process. Also invite students to discuss any positive reactions to the ritual.

Deep Listening

Deep listening is a process that can be role-played in class. Perhaps the biggest learning challenge with respect to deep listening is differentiating deep listening from active listening. Help students with how to frame questions that help clients go further into the meanings behind their experiences, views of the past, views of themselves, and hopes for the future. For students who are interested in further training and practice, you could refer them to international groups that train people in deep listening or variants such as appreciative inquiry or compassionate listening. You could also remind students for the importance of mindfulness; in order to demonstrate deep listening, they will need high levels of mindfulness (particularly in situations where clients have high levels of anger, mistrust, embarrassment, or anxiety).

Healing Circle

Circles are not very “technique-oriented,” so it is difficult to accurately role-play or portray them in a class situation. Circle keepers tend to be nondirective, process emerges gradually, and circles are integrated into their community contexts. There are some videos of circle processes. Also, if you have a relationship with a Native American community, you might ask them if they have any opportunities for students to participate in a circling process (I participated in some retreats which were very valuable).

Facilitating Apologies

This section provides strategies for facilitating apologies. Help students understand the differences between feeling apologetic and demonstrating apology. Also, stress the importance of genuineness in providing an apology.If people just go through the motions (e.g., saying “I’m sorry”), then the apology is unlikely to be helpful. To help students identify their own attitudes and feelings toward apology, ask them to identify a situation in which they have hurt another person, whether intentionally or not. Then ask them to consider whether they apologized or not, and what made it both harder and less hard to offer an apology. Finally, ask students to write down an apology that they could have offered, using the framework described in this chapter for a full apology. You could invite students to share what they have written, though it may be safest to allow students to decide whether to share, rather than insisting that students share their responses with the class.

Facilitating Forgiveness

Many people think that forgiveness is a process of telling someone that you forgive them for how they have treated you (using words to excuse or pardon them). This chapter emphasizes that forgiving is an internal process of dealing with emotions arising from feeling hurt by another person. It is important to distinguish forgiveness from condoning, forgetting, or minimizing an injustice. Many people hold onto anger and frustration, unaware of the negative effects.

You could use the following exercise to engage students in a discussion regarding forgiveness:

Think of a time when someone hurt you. Write down a brief description of the situation. Did you forgive the other person? Write down what factors made it more difficult for you to offer forgiveness? Write down what factors made it easier for you to offer forgiveness?

Students may discuss factors such as the prior relationship with the other person, religious beliefs, the depth of feeling hurt, whether the person offered a genuine apology, and whether they had time to heal. Use these factors to identify how helping professionals can assist others with offering forgiveness, for example, helping someone work through the grieving of a loss may help the personcome to a place where he or she is ready to forgive.

Electronic Technology

There are numerous ways in which electronic technology is being used to facilitate CR. This section highlights some of these methods, including ways to facilitate communication, problem solving, and sharing of information. The point of this question is not to encourage students to embrace any particular form of electronic technology for CR practice, but rather to consider its use in a critical manner:

• What is the nature of the conflict being resolved?
• What methods of CR are you considering, and why?
• How might technology be able to assist in the CR process?
• What are the potential benefits and risks of using this particular form of technology, with these particular clients?
• If you would like to use some form of technology in the CR process, how will you ensure that the clients have an opportunity to provide informed consent?

Discussion Questions and Exercises

1. United We Stand[10 to 15 minutes]