First aid, not takeover
Brief, bounded help without becoming the specialist, entering the middle or carrying what happens next.
The conflict toolbox is already full. One function is still missing.
Conflict First Aid™
Conflict is ordinary. Knowing what to do can be ordinary too.
The vision: A day when everyday people know how to offer useful help in conflict without taking over or getting caught in the middle.
Self-regulation, mediation, coaching, facilitation, counselling, leadership, restorative practice, legal processes and system design all matter. Yet valuable options can exist in the field and still be out of reach at the point of need.
Someone should be self-regulating but isn’t.
What do I do now?
Standard First Aid shows that ordinary people can learn useful, bounded ways to help. Conflict needs that kind of everyday capability too.
Conflict First Aid™ is a practical set of competencies that fills a critical gap in the conflict toolbox and management spectrum.
A Conflict First Aid™ interaction is voluntary, brief and non-judgmental, helping to contemplate and address a blip or waypoint: a past, present or anticipated concern, complaint, challenge or conflict.
Ordinary people can learn what helps, use it within limits, and know when and how to stop.
…when stakes are high, and failure is not an option. Andrea J. Lee, author of We Need to Talk
For any of us
Use the competencies when you are in, near or affected by conflict. You may use them for yourself or with someone else.
Across the conflict spectrum
Conflict First Aid™ is not limited to early conflict. It can fit before, during or after escalation.
It had been hiding in plain sight.
What brought you here?
I want to learn Conflict First Aid™
Join the waitlist for updates on the development of Conflict First Aid™, including Foundations learning, practice cohorts, research opportunities and #ConflictSchool.
I can bring a cohort together
Joan is looking for communities and organizations interested in pilots for Conflict First Aid™ practice and ecosystem awareness, practice and research.
I want help with a specific conflict
If a conflict is affecting you, a group or a system, book a consultation with Joan. She still practises.
I see a place where this could live
Bring the research question, partnership, introduction, funding possibility, teaching opportunity or system connection.
Meet the founder
Joan Feringa spent decades asking whether we had everything we needed.
In 2001, that question began shaping her conflict-management work. Her 2002 M.A. thesis, Conflict Management Systems: A Hammer, or the Complete Toolbox?, examined whether people and organizations had the range of tools they actually needed.
In 2017, during a difficult period of change and conflict of her own, Joan finally recognized the missing function. It was not another professional intervention and it was not limited to early conflict.
It was first aid.
That night, the name Conflict First Aid was available in every major domain version she checked. Given how old, ordinary and costly conflict is, it should not have been. The name came quickly. Testing it took years.
Joan now teaches and coaches at the Justice Institute of British Columbia and serves on the boards of Mediate BC and the HMCS QUADRA Alumni Association.
We are still building.
Conflict First Aid™ is founder-led and still in Foundations, Stewardship, and Seed Funding stage.
Early learners, Plank Owners, practice cohorts, colleagues and collaborators have helped bring it this far. They are SO appreciated. It is not too late. Joining now means helping strengthen the learning, practice, research and ecosystem while the foundations are still being honed.
Questions people ask first
Is Conflict First Aid™ mediation or coaching?
No. Those practices matter, but they do different work. Conflict First Aid™ is brief, bounded first aid and does not put the person offering it in the middle.
How does the Standard First Aid parallel work?
The parallel is about public access to learnable, bounded help and knowing its limits. Conflict and physical injury are different; their methods are not interchangeable. Conflict First Aid™ does not replace mediation, therapy, investigation, crisis response or formal duties.
Is it only for early conflict?
No. It can fit before, during or after escalation. The question is whether brief, voluntary first aid fits now.
How long does a Conflict First Aid™ interaction take?
Often three to five minutes. It may be repeated, but it is not ongoing help by design or default.
Does it have to solve the conflict?
No. Help may mean contemplation, recognition, orientation, a boundary, a pause, an ending, no present action or a link onward.
What does practice-ready mean?
Ready to begin practising and honing the competencies. It does not mean already competent, certified or finished learning.
Making Conflict First Aid™ ordinary and accessible will take many of us.
Learn it. Bring a cohort. Ask a question. Find a place for it to live. Help build what has been missing.