Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Community building trainings

[Alicia George (ajgeorge]

Here at Takoma Village Cohousing in Washington, DC, we are also looking into 
trainings to strengthen our communication, conflict management, and 
facilitation skills. Below are a few resources we’ve identified, but haven’t 
checked out yet.

Challenging Community Behaviors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNdnw8WCHc4
Recorded WebChat on dealing effectively with four types of disruptive behaviors 
in community. (1 hr) Presented by Diana Leafe Christian of Earthaven 
Ecovillage. Available free on YouTube.

Conflict: Interpersonal or Systemic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZICkLI10qI 
Recorded WebChat on how to determine if a conflict is interpersonal or needs a 
full community solution. (1 hr) Presented by Liz Magill of Mosaic Commons. 
Available free on YouTube.

Conflict Resolution for Communities
https://cohousinginstitute.org/product/conflict-resolution-for-communities/ 
Recorded 8-week training based on Imago Dialogue techniques. Presented by Karen 
Gimnig, formerly of CohoUS. Available with 25% discount for CohoUS members 
(discounted price is $360).

Navigating Personality Differences in Community
https://cohousinginstitute.org/product/cooperative-living-skills/
Recorded workshop on building a cooperative culture. Presented by Karen Gimnig, 
formerly of CohoUS. (1 hr 20 min) Available free to CohoUS members.

Working Effectively with Three Kinds of Community Conflict (7-week online 
workshop)
https://www.schoolofintegratedliving.org/working-effectively-with-community-conflict/
Presented by Diana Leafe Christian of Earthaven Ecovillage’s School of 
Integrated Living (SOIL)
Thursdays, 7:00 - 9:30 pm ET  (2025: April 17 & 24; May 1, 8, 15, 22 & 29)
$195 - $295 per person (20% discount for groups of 5 or more)
Learn practical, workable solutions to resolve or contain interpersonal 
conflict, structural conflict, and especially challenging behaviors in 
community.

Someone mentioned that they’d missed the opportunity to learn from Laird 
Schaub’s workshops. Much of his wisdom is still accessible in his extensive 
blog posts:

Laird’s Commentary on Community and Consensus
https://communityandconsensus.blogspot.com/ 
Compilation of blog posts by community process consultant Laird Schaub. Search 
on terms such as “challenging personalities,” “conflict,” etc.

Another valuable resource is the compilation of articles on facilitation and 
consensus by Kavana Tree Bresson:

Effective Collective
https://effectivecollective.net/library-full
Library of articles compiled by Kavana Tree Bressen. Click on “Conflict 
Resolution” to see a selection of more than 10 documents.

I hope these resources are helpful!

Alicia George
Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington, DC