This fully virtual daylong retreat takes place on Friday June 28th from 8:30am-3:30pm PST / 9:30am-4:30pm MST / 11:30am-6:30pm EST with a 1 hour break from 11:30am-12:30pm PST/ 12:30pm-1:30pm MST/ 2:30pm-3:30pm EST.
Join the Spring Up Collective and peer practitioners in learning the 5 core steps to conflict analysis through a case study.
This if for you if:
- You are afraid of conflict because it seems to be associated with things going wrong, getting distracted from the core work, or people losing trust in one another
- You have felt stuck in conflict where you and the other person (or people) don’t seem to be able to translate to one another or work past your differences
- You have had a hard time digesting and integrating critical feedback
- You have been told that you are too confrontational or direct
- You have been told or noticed that you are conflict avoidant
- You have seen how race, gender, disability, and class shape how someone is perceived in conflict as “too emotional,” “angry,” or “scattered”
- You tend to be pulled into other people’s dramas, or people tend to open up to you about their issues and you want better skills to support them
- You can feel like you are powerless or have no options to address a situation at work, in your family, or in life in general
The daylong retreat is great for anyone who is interested in deepening their understanding and analysis skills of conflict. Within the retreat, participants will examine fictional scenarios and engage with tools to support empathy building, understand and map power dynamics, investigate the scale of the harm, and discuss the choice points available throughout the conflict.
This retreat is facilitated by Spring Up
Spring Up is a collective of 11 Transformative Justice practitioners, liberatory educators, and care coaches. Each breakout group will be paired with a Spring Up facilitator to guide discussion, answer questions, and go through scenario practice with you.
We intentionally pair breakout groups based on the kind of work participants do or challenges they are dealing with. You will be with a group of 4-7 other participants and one Spring Up facilitator, with space to get to know one another, set your intentions, and share how you are entering the space / what your access needs are for the day.
If 4 or more people from the same organization register together, you will have a private breakout group with an aligned facilitator. The breakout space can be used to strengthen relationships among colleagues as well as problem solve and strategize around your programs and how you will directly implement what you learn.
When you sign up for this retreat, you will get access to the accompanying online learning portal. On that portal you will be invited to introduce yourself and share a bit about what you are hoping to learn - this introduction will be used to help us sort you into aligned breakout spaces, so please do so as soon as you are able. You will also see the agenda for the day, an introduction to your facilitators, as well as an our community agreements and harm response process.
Before the retreat, we encourage you to let us know if you have specific accessibility needs that you would like us to meet. You can request live ASL interpretation, Spanish interpretation, visual descriptions, or other needs. Please try to give us at least 2 weeks notice for ASL or Spanish access.
This platform also includes:
- The fictional scenario that we will be analyzing throughout the retreat. Our goal is to use a scenario that is fictional but realistic, and around a 3-5 intensity on a scale of 1-10 (with 1 being a little disagreement and 10 being a major crisis).
- Our power mapping tool to practice intersectionality and identify the many lines of power at play in any situation
- An original essay on the patterns of conflict and conflict avoidance by Spring Up co-founders Stas and Leander
- Our safety and care plan that we encourage you to fill out in order to identify your support system and plan for how to care for yourself.
During the retreat itself:
- There will be plenty of space for you to ask questions or guide the learning based on what you need support in
- We encourage you to take care of yourself and do what will make you feel most comfortable including standing up, sitting down, laying down, stimming, turning your camera off, eating, moving around, stepping in and out of the room as needed
- Closed captions will be on for the entire retreat and all text on slides will be read aloud. There is also space for you to let your facilitator and breakout group peers know if there are other requests that could support you.
- Most slides have accompanying visuals to support you in digesting information through text and imagery
- There are consistent breaks and pauses throughout the retreat in addition to the 1 hour break in the middle of the day
- Some breakout prompts include the option to journal independently instead of having conversation which allows you to choose how you prefer to digest and integrate what you are learning
- There are optional prompts throughout the day for somatic and embodied activities to get you into your body or to play a game. It is totally up to you if that is something that feels right, or if you would prefer to opt out.
Once the retreat is complete, you will get access to the slides from the day as well as suggestions for how you can learn more about the topics explored within the retreat. We will also share a feedback form for you to tell us how the experience was for you or if you have any suggestions to make it a better experience in the future.
Coaching
Registration for this course includes a 1:1 coaching session with one of our coaches. Spring Up coaching is a peer-based, flexible, non-therapy offering to help you clarify your goals and build your self-care and communication skills. Our collaborative approach to coaching is based in a non-hierarchical relationship that is solution focused — coaches recognize that clients are experts in their own lived experience. Coaching is strengths-based and culturally specific in that coaches help the client enhance their inherent strengths, skills, and resources accessible to them. Spring Up coaching has an expectation that the client is ready to engage in further learning and implementation outside of the session.
Get the Full Liberatory Leadership Experience
Join all three of our daylong retreats this summer to get a discount and free access to the cultivate consent mini class. This bundle includes the Harm Systems Design Retreat on February 23rd, the Conflict Analysis Retreat on March 8th, the Liberatory Facilitation Retreat on March 22nd and 3 coaching sessions in addition to the cultivate consent mini-class.
Can my organization or workplace pay for me to register for the retreat?
- Yes, email us if you need an invoice for your group
- You can also register yourself and you will receive a receipt for reimbursement
- Email [email protected] with any other questions
- 2-10 people from an organization can register for this retreat. If you have more than 10 people who want to take this, we encourage you to reach out and schedule a private version of the retreat just for your organization.
Who else will be there?
We are excited that these spaces are a place for folks to connect across the ecosystem of liberation work. Many of our participants are leaders in nonprofits, education, grassroots community organizations, therapy or social work, intentional communities and philanthropy. We encourage you to make new connections or attend with your colleagues and focus on your own community. We do not have participation requirements: we trust that if this seems like a good fit for you, you are welcome.
How long do I have access to the online portal with the slides and resources?
Forever! Access to the online content associated with this retreat does not expire.
When will this retreat be offered again?
This retreat is offered three times a year, in the Spring, Summer, and Fall.
Can you share more guidance on how to choose the right price out of the sliding scale?
If you are a resourced formal institution, like a school, foundation, business, or nonprofit with a budget of over $1M, we ask that you pay at the top of our sliding scale options. This helps to subsidize our ability to provide at cost services to informal community based organizations and student groups with small budgets, who we invite to pay at the lower end of our sliding scale. Somewhere in the middle lie small and medium nonprofits, conferences and events, advocacy groups, etc, where we will follow your lead on the budget you have available for professional development, continuing education, and/or community engagement.
Does this retreat work for folks outside of the US?
Each individual can choose if the timing of the retreat works for them based on their time zone. If the time zone differences would make it difficult to attend, we would encourage you to sign up for one of our 6 week courses instead.
Is this retreat only in English?
We can offer live translation to Spanish and ASL interpretation with at least 2 weeks notice.