Anyone up for a chat thread?

[RamiC]

IME, the challenge is getting people to go to such groups. Most won't.

I cannot see much that can be done if people do not want to become spiritually mature Christians, or learn how to serve the needs of a team and prioritise the mission. Prayer directly for thriving and spiritually healthy churches is all I can think of.

 

[Shane R]

Some HVAC guys came and installed my new furnace today. The fired it up and it was LOUD. I asked, "Is it supposed to be that loud?" The main guy was like, "No. I think I messed something up when I wired it. Let me check the manual."

Looking at the manual. What a novel idea.

 

[RamiC]

Has anybody ever seen "Conflict Resolution Training" work? If you have, what does it acheive?

Someone is suggesting it at the charity I work for. We provide drop-in services for addicts in recovery, and I am not convinced it will help. I am convinced that what we do is very positive work, but I am not sure that something that sounds so much like ordinay "office management" will suffice. The people who do "drop in" are frequently very nervous and confused, the majority have inadequate support for mental health difficulties, and at first they are also often living in unsuitable circumstances. We already strive for remaining calm, positive and non-judgemental.

Since we were recently discussing local parish communities, and ways to nurture better community spirit in church, I thought I would mention the subject in here.

 

[Paidiske]

I guess my question would be, what is the underlying challenge or problem the training would be aimed at?

Conflict resolution training sounds more like it's aimed at helping the team work well together. I have done training on the sort of thing you're talking about, but it was presented more as "conflict and aggression management" as an aspect of worker safety.

(As in, there's a difference between training aimed at resolving conflict between team members, and training aimed at helping workers respond to and manage difficult clients. I'd think it's a matter of making sure you get the right kind of training for your situation).

Honestly, the best thing the training I did achieved, was helping build confidence among our volunteers. They had been very intimidated by some of our more difficult folk, but being given some simple tools and some approaches to think about, helped them to not be so anxious; which in turn helped them to not escalate situations that didn't need to get out of hand.

 

[RamiC]

I guess my question would be, what is the underlying challenge or problem the training would be aimed at?

This is helpful, thank you. They might be thinking of staff safety and confidence, over service users getting aggressive. There was a situation a few weeks ago, they do sometimes happen. I do not personally see how the drama could have been handled any better than it was, but maybe my superiors have been given instructions from elsewhere that we should all be trained.

 

[Paidiske]

Or it could be that the volunteers themselves have asked. In the case I dealt with, the volunteers were wanting to radically change the way they worked (to reduce client contact) before they were given the training.

 

[RamiC]

Or it could be that the volunteers themselves have asked. In the case I dealt with, the volunteers were wanting to radically change the way they worked (to reduce client contact) before they were given the training.

We exist for contact, so we must have that. We cannot have our special status as an essential service without "drop in", and we would not be able to help a lot of people without it. I will just wait and see, there is a staff meeting on Monday. I will try to be positive, and make sure my humble opinion on the drama incident is heard.

It is good to hear that it might be about everyone else's confidence, some of the newer volunteers might just not be familiar with the possible risks.