Last week, Community Mediation, Inc. held its 8th Annual Father Nash Award program, this time honoring New Haven’s Community Leadership Program. Although Community Mediation, Inc. is best known for its work in conflict resolution, the nature of the award and remarks at the award breakfast focused much more on conflict prevention.
By creating opportunities for conversation around common interests and concerns, Community Mediation, through the Dialogue Project and other intiatives, helps people in the New Haven community in two ways. First, relationships can be formed outside of a crisis, when emotions are less frayed. Then, in a time of crisis, those who are in conflict may have an easier time having a productive conversation. Second, by exploring some difficult issues before they reach the boiling point, some useful exchance of ideas can occur before the heat of the moment endangers rational communication.
A conflict prevented is even better than a conflict resolved.
