Building Bridges

Transforming Workplace Conflict into Connection

Starting January 2026

What is the Building Bridges Cohort?

The Building Bridges Cohort is designed to support individuals and teams to develop the mindsets, skill sets, and structures to transform workplace conflict from division and breakdown into connection and breakthrough.

Conflict is a natural part of human relationships, woven into our cultures, our teams, and our organizations. Yet in many workplaces, it remains taboo, misunderstood, and difficult to address. Avoidance of interpersonal tensions leads to distrust in colleagues, fear to speak openly, sudden eruptions, adversarial investigative processes that leave even more damaged teams in their wake, and, ultimately, high rates of absenteeism, sick leave, and turnover. Navigating conflict is hard – and most workplaces don’t prepare us for navigating diverse perspectives and the inevitable conflict that comes with working alongside others. 

We believe that great workplaces and organizations and organizations aren’t defined by the absence of conflict, but by how skillfully they navigate it. We believe that the divisions, tensions, and conflicts in our workplaces can be portals to healing, connection, and transformation -- peaceful energy and collective wisdom that radiate outwards into our institutions and wider systems. When we engage conflict constructively and inclusively, we open the door to better decision-making, stronger relationships, and higher-performing teams. It makes us better collaborators and co-creators, with more capacity to bring our whole selves to work. Learning how to navigate conflict when it arises is critical, and learning proactive strategies that prevent conflicts from escalating is key to building wiser and healthier workplaces. 

This is why we’re hosting the Building Bridges Cohort: to help you shift how you approach workplace conflict with new ways of thinking, tools, habits, and processes  …

From reactive —> proactive.

From division —> connection.

From breakdown —> breakthrough.

Building Bridges is for you if…

  • You want to navigate conflict in the workplace with more skills clarity, courage, and compassion

  • You’re tired of avoiding conflict & being stuck in cycles of shaming, blaming, and reactivity

  • You are seeking healthier ways to give and receive feedback

  • You want to find more skillful ways of embracing multiple perspectives in dialogue & staying connected in conflict

  • You want to build a restorative workplace culture that seeks to proactively build psychological safety and address conflict directly

  • You want to learn alongside peers in a supportive cohort model

This learning journey will support you to practice at the …

    • Naming your feelings and needs with clarity

    • Befriending your nervous system and learning self-regulation tools 

    • Developing compassion for yourself and your triggers in conflict 

    • Cultivating groundedness through breath, movement, and mindfulness

    • Practices of empathetic listening and speaking, including across power and identity differences

    • Tools to give and receive feedback with empathy and skill

    • Strategies to move from debate and defensiveness to dialogue and understanding

    • Ways to invite multiple perspectives rather than right/wrong polarities

    • Being in a community of co-practice and mutual support

    • How to develop team principles and practices for navigating conflict which deepens trust and psychological safety

    • Practices for building a restorative workplace culture that prioritizes relationships, accountability and collective care

✅ 7 live interactive sessions
✅ Slide deck of each session & session recordings
✅ Conflict transformation tools, models, & other learning resources
✅ Community of practice
✅ Reflective practices to integrate learning
✅ Optional conflict coaching sessions

Meet the Facilitators

More About Each Facilitator:

The Building Bridges cohort is guided by three facilitators whose diverse lived experiences and approaches make this offering uniquely holistic, embodied, and transformative. Rehana Tejpar draws on deep somatic and creative practices to cultivate compassion, understanding, and equity within groups navigating complex tensions. Jeff Carolin integrates his background in criminal defence law, restorative justice, and participatory learning to support authentic accountability and workplace transformation rooted in embodied connection and mindful reflection. Moyo Mutamba offers decades of peacebuilding through music, storytelling, therapy, and conflict mediation, grounding his work in the African philosophy of Ubuntu – “I am because we are” – which builds collective capacity for navigating conflict with clarity, courage, and compassion. Together, they create a learning journey that weaves body, heart, creativity, wisdom and systemic insight to deepen each participant’s ability to better navigate conflict in their professional and personal lives.

  • Rehana is a facilitator, leadership coach, mediator, and movement artist who guides leaders and organizations to harness the wisdom of diversity toward shared purpose and culture change. With over 15 years of experience in transformative peacebuilding with organizations like B Lab Global, Oxfam, and Greenpeace Canada, she brings a holistic, participatory approach rooted in trust, authenticity, and creativity. Her work draws from Dialogue for Peaceful Change, Art of Hosting, InterPlay, Radical Aliveness, and Clowning—inviting play, embodiment, and compassion even in moments of tension.

  • Moyo is a peacebuilder, therapist, mediator, and artist whose decades of community work span education, human rights, arts, and agriculture. His commitment to healing and justice led him to social work and therapy, supporting communities to navigate harm and build resilience. A Qualified Mediator (Q.Med), conflict coach, and facilitator, Moyo grounds his work in the African principle of Ubuntu—“I am because we are.” He weaves music, storytelling, and embodied practice to cultivate clarity, compassion, and courageous conflict transformation in service of equity and inclusion.

  • Jeff is a facilitator, mediator, and former criminal defence lawyer with over a decade of experience advocating for marginalized people within punitive systems. His journey into restorative and transformative justice emerged from witnessing the harms of traditional conflict approaches, leading him to support healing-centered practices in workplaces. Jeff draws on embodied nonviolent communication, vulnerability, and reflective co-learning, with a focus on organizational culture change, restorative accountability, and transforming relationships to conflict through emotional awareness.

Dates & Schedule

  • Start Date | Jan 28, 2026

  • End Date | April 22, 2026

  • Weekly Sessions | Wednesdays, 12–2pm ET

Tuition & How to Join

To make participation accessible to as possible, we use a sliding scale model for tuition. This allows participants to choose a contribution that reflects their financial situation, ensuring that resources are not a barrier to joining. Together, we cultivate a diverse, supportive community where everyone can grow, share, and create impact.

  • True Cost | $1050

  • Accessibility | $900

  • Solidarity | $750

Refund and Transfer Policy

Given the time & energy we invest in this program, and the way in which incoming revenue informs our planning process, please find below our refund and transfer policy:

  • Program fees are non-refundable.

  • If you cannot participate, you may be able to transfer your registration to a different participant, and we may be able to help you find another participant.

  • If we need to cancel a session (due to unforeseen circumstances), we will do our best to reschedule for a later date. If you are unable to attend on the rescheduled date, or if we are not able to reschedule the session, then you will have the option to be partially refunded.

Overview of Sessions

  • In the first session, we will collectively build the container for connection, trust and co-learning, and introduce our foundational conflict mindsets. We will reflect on our personal experiences with conflict and begin building skills in nervous system awareness and empathetic listening.

  • This session offers a deep dive into how our nervous systems respond to conflict, particularly through fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. Participants will learn and practice  co-regulation tools that support our nervous systems to stay grounded,   present, and connected when conflict arises.

  • In this session,  we turn to the deeper layers beneath our reactions. Participants will build awareness of how it is our core values and psychological needs that lie underneath our nervous system activation and how tapping into our own (and others’) values and needs can support us to respond to conflict with greater empathy and clarity.

  • Building on previous sessions,  participants will practice working through  real conflict scenarios while deepening skills in empathetic speaking and listening. We  will introduce the Intention–Action–Impact framework to support deeper understanding of both intention and impact of actions, when conflict arises.

  • This session will continue to build on empathetic speaking and listening, offering participants more space to practice dialogue skills through scenarios, role play, and group reflection. The session will also explore the role of power in conflict and how to approach it with awareness and care. The focus will be on deepening fluency with empathetic communication, navigating power dynamics, and responding to conflict in real time.

  • Participants will learn and practice giving and receiving feedback in a way that fosters appreciation, clarity, and growth. Using a structured feedback model, participants will apply their learning to workplace-based scenarios helping them build confidence and compassion in difficult conversations.

  • In the final session, participants will identify where they hold agency and influence within their organizational systems and, through small group coaching, they will explore areas of possibility and stuckness, and reflect on how to apply the tools and insights from the program. The session will support participants in integrating their learning and stepping into their roles as contributors to restorative and resilient workplace cultures.

  • Participants have access to individual conflict coaching with the facilitators, a personalized space to deepen learning, explore challenges, and integrate conflict transformation tools into their specific organizational contexts. 

FAQs

  • Not at all. Some people will come with a clear workplace challenge, others just want to grow their skills and confidence. The practices, tools, and reflections will meet you wherever you’re at.

  • We know life happens. You’ll get the recordings, slides, and resources so you won’t fall behind. That said, being there live gives you the richest experience — especially the small-group practices.

  • Both. You’ll deepen your own awareness and skills, while also learning tools you can bring back to your team or organization. Think of it as growing from the inside out. Both individuals and teams are welcome to join.

  • This is an interactive, cameras-on cohort — you’ll be invited into dialogue and practice with others. That said, you’re always in charge of how much you share. We create a space where you can stretch at your own pace.

  • Session resources and reflective practices are included in the cohort and you can choose optional one-on-one or small group coaching/mediation with the facilitators for an additional fee. Plus, you’ll be part of a community that continues to support each other as the journey unfolds.

  • Everyone is welcome. Whether you’re just starting out or already have some experience, this cohort is designed to meet you where you are. You’ll be supported and encouraged to stretch into the next stage of your conflict skills, at a pace that feels right for you.

If you have any other questions feel free to reach out to us - info@bloomworld.org