Peacemaking

Click here for overviews of our current peacemaking programs.

In our holistic approach to violence prevention and elimination, we work with community members to foster five interrelated forms of peace:

1. Peace of mind: the mental placidity, calm, focus, and awareness needed to do most things well.
2. Peace of body: the physical wellness free of harmful substances and enriched by healthy, active, nourishing, and nutritious practices needed to achieve vitality and wellness.
3. Nonviolence: the prevention and elimination of physical, verbal, emotional, institutional, systemic, environmental, and intimate-partner violence.
4. Liberation: the equanimity and magnanimity arising when we treat each other equally, inclusively, equitably, and benevolently, and give each other similar opportunities to prosper even when we may have different roles, positions, backgrounds, and occupations.
5. Safety: the tranquility arising when trust abounds, when we feel cared-for, and when we have a consistent sense of security and protection from harm.

We guide and empower community members (youth and adults) to embrace the following practices for peacemaking.

• Restorative Justice.
• Mindfulness.
• De-Escalation.
• Social and Emotional Learning.
• Peer support or peer counseling using talk circles.
• Referrals when our care and resources are limited (for substance abuse treatment, housing aid, food bank assistance, healthcare support, psychiatric rehabilitation, utility assistance, or legal aid).