Our life is love, and peace, and tenderness; and bearing one with another, and forgiving one another, and not laying accusations one against another; but praying one for another, and helping one another up with a tender hand.
Isaac Penington in 1667 (10.01 | Quaker faith & practice)
Building on Quaker initiatives to address conflict and to ensure that everyone within a Quaker community can feel heard, Restoring Relations has developed training materials and in recent years a practice known as 'Quaker Listening Space'. We aim to help groups to hold conversations, and to be better able to constructively manage conflicts that inevitably arise within any group.
What we can offer Quaker communities:
- Initial consultation. we offer an initial meeting (usually online) to help us understand a situation and if we may be able to help. If further support is needed we offer:
- RR/QLS trained facilitators to run one or more Quaker Listening Spaces, in-person or online to discern constructive ways forward. RR/QLS also offers ‘top-up’ sessions as necessary.
- Training for people within an AM to provide support to Meetings that are finding it difficult to manage existing conflicts.
- Training for people within LMs/AMs to run Quaker Listening Spaces that offer an opportunity to know one another at a deeper level and respond accordingly. Using this approach it becomes easier to recognise and manage conflict before it gets out of hand.
- Ongoing monthly sessions for trained facilitators to reflect on and improve their practice.
We tailor what we offer to the needs of the Quaker group we are working with, rather than adopting a one size fits all approach.
Our aim is to have a network of trained facilitators across Britain, who can provide support to Quaker communities when needed.