HEAL OUR DIVIDES
Learn & share proven tools for Courageous Conversations
THE ROTARY CLUB OF BERKELEY
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH COURAGEOUS LEADERSHIP
Invites You To
Courageous Conversation Workshops
Bridging Divides for a More Courageous Democracy | Brooke Deterline | TEDxSonomaCounty
A recent TEDxTalk provides a glimpse of the methodology.
“Yes, it was helpful at work and in political conversations, but the best part was it’s been great with my wife! Learning to really listen has changed my marriage.”
- Rotarian
PROVEN MODEL
Courageous Leadership and Berkeley Rotary Club are expanding the reach and impact of the successful “Courageous Conversations” program pioneered by Courageous Leadership, Berkeley Rotary and District 5160 in 2016-2019. We delivered evidence-based, skills-building programs for constructive collaboration across differences to 500+ Rotarians and friends from 40+ Clubs, in a series of events around Northern California.
This project combines Rotary’s community service model with Courageous Leadership’s evidence-based, skills-building program for constructive conversations and collaboration on local issues across our differences.
LEARN SCIENCE-BASED STRATEGIES FOR:
Respectful & effective conversations & collaboration across differences.
Decreased distress & increased hope & motivation.
Increased understanding of how to overcome divisiveness & polarization.
Using these skills at home, in community & at work.
Social Fitness Training™ to better understand & respond in challenging situations.
Compassion & courage to transform conflict.
BUILDING CONNECTIONS
Our 2025 workshops will focus on bringing together more Rotarians and especially non-Rotarians concerned about the level of divisiveness in our country, but without a clear idea of how to help connect across our differences for a more civil, peaceful and effective democracy.
Participants will also have the opportunity during the second part of the day to:
Practice their new skills on topics of their choice, through our partnership with Living Room Conversations.
Join a discussion, led by Dan Thomas, on a recent bipartisan report and effort through Braver Angels on Rebuilding Trust in Our Elections.
SIGN UP for updates on 2025 events
PROVEN IMPACT
Third-party research by Jonathan Haidt’s Civil Politics, showed the “Courageous Conversations” program yielded some of the highest results of any of the many “bridging divides” programs they had evaluated, with statistically significant increases in:
A sense of belonging,
Willingness to work across difference to achieve common goals, and
Motivation to bridge differences
An internal evaluation of the initial Rotary “Courageous Conversations” showed that:
94% of participants want Rotary to continue to develop these sessions;
92% learned important information; and
86% will behave differently in the future because of the training.
Participants Leave More:
Hopeful
Confident in their abilities to engage across differences
Capable of creating goodwill
Committed to increasing their conversations across differences
Interested in building relationships and working together
“These are some of the, if not the, strongest results we’ve seen in any of the programs and groups we’ve assessed.”
— Jonathan Haidt’s Civil Politics Data Assessment Group
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
In our highly interactive workshop, participants learn the social and evolutionary psychology of why well-intended people can easily act in unproductive ways in challenging social environments (like hyper-partisanship). Participants learn and practice using tools to increase compassion, curiosity, and courage across difference to leverage and transform conflict. Using Social Fitness Training ©, an evidence-based cognitive behavioral model, participants have the opportunity to role play challenging situations to retrain the way we think and act under pressure in divisive times. Participants learn to respond in challenging situations to foster connection, understanding, and the possibility of collaborative action. The workshop is also fun!
“Your work is brilliant and so very important. Your message and approach is a vital path forward to greater peace, understanding and healing on a personal and societal level. Thank you for your leadership and generous spirit.”
— Robin Milan, Rotary Multi-District 4-Way Fest Conference Chair
WHY COURAGEOUS CONVERSATIONS
Courageous Leadership’s Courageous Conversations programs are built on a solid foundation of social science. For close to two decades, Courageous Leadership has helped people recognize invisible systemic influences and subtle social cues for fear and stress that can lead to dehumanizing, avoiding, and lashing out. We train people to act with compassion, ethical courage, and ingenuity. Our evidence-based tools have been used with clients including Salesforce, Microsoft, Hewlett Foundation, The Center for Domestic Peace, GE, Pfizer, Kaiser Permanente, Columbia University Medical Center, and the Australian Government. The Rotary project falls under our Courageous Democracy initiative.
WHY ROTARY
More Info Below
Rotary is one of the few groups in the United States that continues to have a high level of trust, and where people from many backgrounds and perspectives build bonds while achieving results together.
Rotary’s “Service Above Self” model may hold the antidote to three pressing concerns:
Hyper-partisanship
The need for fractured communities to learn to come together, and
The epidemic of loneliness
Courageous Conversations is part of Rotary’s overall effort to Heal Divides, that includes Livingroom Conversations, Civil Discourse and Braver Angels.
Learn More Below!
Meet the Team
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Brooke Deterline
FOUNDER
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Ken White
EXECUTIVE CONSULTANT
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Donald Proby
EXECUTIVE CONSULTANT
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Ryan Lamberton
EXECUTIVE CONSULTANT
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Bradford "Brad" Howard
EXECUTIVE CONSULTANT
A special thank you to the Courageous Conversations Rotarian Team:
Maxim Schrogin, Dan Thomas, Fred Collignon, Grier Graff, Jane Louie, Michael DeWilde, David Campbell, Anne Pardee, Ken McCroskey, Steve Beckendorf, Kathy Clemens, Joanne Dickerson-Harper’s, Helena Meyer-Knapp, Trudy Triner, Pamela Doolan
Our Advisors
Van Jones
CNN Political Contributor
CNN
Liz Joyner
Co-Founder & ED
Village Square
Duf Sundheim
Mediator
Republican Party Chair
Lori Grange
Strategy Officer
Hewlett Foundation
Fred Collignon
Professor Emeritus
UC Berkeley
Resources
The United States of Anxiety
Courageous Conversations is part of Rotary’s overall effort to Heal Divides, that includes Livingroom Conversations, Civil Discourse and Braver Angels.