TTRCS hosts Conflict Resolution training for youth

In an effort to provide youth volunteers with alternatives to dealing with the personal and interpersonal conflicts encountered in their daily lives, a three-day Conflict Resolution Training workshop was held 26th – 29th August at Trinidad and Tobago Red Cross Society  (TTRCS) National headquarters.

Eighteen people participated and benefitted from this training, organised by the TTRCS HIV and AIDS department. All of the TTRCS branches - San Fernando, Port of Spain and Tobago -  were represented, with some participants from TTRCS youth department. A few partner organizations also sent representatives.

TTRCS Public Relations and Communications director Judy Boopsingh conducted the orientation on the TTRCS and the Federation.

The core of the training was presented by TTRCS HIV and AIDS programme coordinator Margarita Elliot, who developed specific modules for this training.  Due to the nature of the training, some sessions were extremely intense and emotional. Members of staff from the other TTRCS departments were quite cooperative and understanding.

Topics dealt with: Understanding Behaviour in Conflict, Models for Approaching Conflict, Communication Skills – Empathy & Listening, Appropriate Assertiveness, Managing Emotions, Power, Negotiation, and Mediation.

An interesting session was on Living Positively with HIV and AIDS – presented by a person living with HIV and AIDS. Another session called Biology 101 was presented for participants to get a basic foundation on HIV and AIDS.

Three young men of the Youth Training Centre, a correctional institute for male juveniles, shared their testimonies as an example of how conflict can be better dealt with to avoid extreme consequences.

Some of the comments coming from participants were:
“We learnt that you can’t win at all times.”

“I was absolutely impressed with the amount of information shared in under 6 hours”

“…all points of each part of the lesson was sufficiently covered, and very direct so that further clarification was hardly necessary, as well as mis-comprehension quite limited”

“…I met a military worker who actually displayed some amount of compassion and empathy and listening skills…”

“…Altogether I must say today seemed to be well organized and was executed in a professional manner”

Participants were also invited to sign a Commitment/ Intention Sheet, as a sign of what action they will perform after the workshop. Some of the commitments were:

• Be more assertive
• Control my emotions
• I will be soft on people and hard on the issues
• Always try to resolve conflicts by using the Win/ Win approach
• Assist someone close to me to resolve a major conflict
• Tell others that I love them
• Avoid being judgmental

The training ended positively as 11 participants decided to become TTRCS volunteers.