5th Annual
International Conference on
"Engaging The OTHER"

Rohnert Park, Calif.
San Francisco Bay Area
Nov. 19-21, 2010
~REGISTRATION
~Program

~Press Room

~Proposal Form
~Facilitator Form

3rd Annual International Conference on
Religion, Conflict, and Peace

Dearborn, Michigan, USA
Spring 2011 
~REGISTRATION
~PROGRAM (2009)
~Press Room
~Proposal Form
~Facilitator Form

ICR - International Conference on Conflict Resolution
16th ICR Conference
 
~Registration Form
 ~Proposal Form

Bait Al Hayat / House of Life - Children's Treatment Center
Palestine

CTR - Catastrophic Trauma Recovery Training

Capacity for Peace and Democracy - Palestine


Voices
Of Reason

Topical Articles and Chapters



Endorsing and Supporting Organizations

Links
Like-Purposed Efforts

 

 


Visit Common Bond Institute on Facebook

~ UPCOMING  CONFERENCES 
~

Challenge Your Stereotypes

5th Annual International Conference on
"Engaging The Other:"
The Power of Compassion

November 19-21, 2010
San Francisco Bay Area (Rohnert Park), Calif. USA
~ Call For Proposals ~


Watch for details on March 2011
~ 3rd Annual RCP Conference ~

2nd Annual International Conference on

Religion, Conflict, and Peace:
Walking The Talk To Compassion And Harmony

June 11-13, 2010 ~ Dearborn, Michigan USA
Keynote by Greg Roberts
Featuring
Huston Smith, Rabbi David Rosen, and Karen Armstrong
2010 RCP Full Program
On-Site Video Interviews and Proceedings

Now More Than Ever...

 At a time of rising turmoil and polarization - a time that calls for new thinking, new vision, new understanding, and new ways of relating in an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world.

Common Bond Institute invites you to join in supporting international efforts advancing the consciousness of peace and healing by raising the capacity of the individual in society to compassionately transform conflict in their daily lives.


Support our Efforts

by making a Tax Deductible donation
through our partner organization:
International Humanistic Psychology Association (IHPA)

Who We Are and What We Do

Common Bond Institute  (CBI) is a U.S. based Non-Governmental Organization that grew out of one of the first Soviet-American non-government human service exchanges initiated in 1982. CBI organizes and sponsors conflict transformation conferences, professional training programs, and relief efforts internationally, and provides needs assessment and resource development, networking and coordination support to assist newly emerging human service and civil society organizations in developing societies.

Our Mission

Cultivating the fundamental elements of a consciousness of peace, and local capacity building, are seen as natural, effective antidotes to small group radical extremism and large group despair, as well as to hardship and suffering in the human condition. To this end, enabling each society to effectively resolve and transform conflicts, satisfy core human needs within their communities, and construct effective, holistic mechanisms for self determination, self esteem, and fundamental human dignity and worth that can strengthen current and future generations is the purpose of our work.

CBI is grounded in the application of humanistic psychology's principles in it's commitment to capacity building at both the grass roots and social institutional level. It's focus is on increasing skills and services, exploration of human relationship dynamics, and expanding public dialogue and awareness of critical issues.

Our Style and Commitment

By design, our efforts are fundamentally collaborative for a larger impact. CBI works to actively form strategic alliances with organizations, groups, and individuals dedicated to nurturing global relationships as a whole in creating and promoting an authentic world culture of peace. We maintain an expanding global network of partner groups and organizations that cooperate in pulling the requisite pieces together to create and operate programs, while minimizing the drain on individual group resources.

Intentional Community: Essentially all of our efforts, and particularly conferences, are designed to be living laboratories for participating in deep, authentic community as a common ground of reference for exploring core themes and integrating formal learning. Creating an atmosphere of trust where individuals can engage in genuine, compassionate dialogue across stereotypes and fear-based beliefs is meant to promote carrying such a space into daily life to nurture a common wisdom, common sense of belonging, and common bond.

The character of our programs offers a microcosm of the larger, diverse, global community for a first hand experience of moving beyond artificial barriers and blind spots to the reality of what is both possible and practical. This purposeful use of intentional community is a central element of our work. It assumes the basic drive/need for integration through inter-connectedness and belonging that can be nurtured to develop conscious intent toward harmony and peace in our relationships.

Please join us for any of our programs by contacting CBI
Visit Common Bond Institute on Facebook

Current Conferences:
                               Registration is Open to All

  5th Annual International Conference on
"Engaging The OTHER"
The Power of Compassion 
(ETO)
November 19-21, 2010  
Sonoma State University,
San Francisco Bay Area
(Rohnert Park), Calif. USA
Co-sponsored by:
   Common Bond Institute  (CBI),  
   International Humanistic Psychology Association (IHPA)
   Sonoma State University,  
A Partner and Official Event of  
   the
"Charter for Compassion"
*
                                and
   the Parliament of World Religions

 
On-Site Video Interviews and Proceedings
At a time when polarization is the culprit, a multidisciplinary, multicultural conference examining concepts of "The OTHER" from a universal, cross-cultural perspective to promote a wider public dialogue about compassion and images of "Us and Them." Over 55 presenters and visionaries - including conservatives and liberals from across the social-political spectrum, and hundreds of concerned individuals addresses the roots of fear-based belief systems, negative stereotypes,
polarization, enemy images, scapegoating, as well as how to move past artificial barriers of misunderstanding and distrust to cultivate compassion and capacity for appreciation of diversity, reconciliation, and peace, and apply results to the current state of world relationships. It is held in conjunction with an edited book project of the same name addressing psycho-social concepts of "The Other" in a cross-cultural forum. The ETO Conference, like the edited book, is an integrated collaboration to examine this fundamentally subjective phenomenon with an inclusive, multicultural eye.  

Registration is Open to All
~ Call For Proposals ~

  * (We invite you to sign the Charter Affirmation below)
   Dialogue Guidelines
   
Presenter Proposal Form: (PDF version)  (HTML version)
   Dialogue Facilitator Form: (PDF version)  (HTML version)
 
  
Volunteer Application - be part of the effort

   Press Room

      On-Site Video Interviews and Proceedings


 San Francisco Bay Area


Watch for details on March 2011
~ 3rd Annual RCP Conference ~

A Partner and Official Event of
   the Charter For Compassion

               and
   the Parliament of World Religions
June 11-13, 2010 ~ Dearborn, Michigan USA
An international forum promoting an inclusive, Inter-religious and
Intra-religious dialogue to explore the challenges of Extremism, Intolerance, Scapegoating, and Islamophobia, and the promise of Reason, Understanding, Compassion, and Cultural Harmony

Culture Peace
of

 16th International Conference on Conflict Resolution (ICR)  (dates and full details to be posted in the near future)
An international conference established in 1992, the ICR Conference is a major international event open to all participants globally. This multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary conference has received support over the years from the President's of the US, Russia, and Governor of St. Petersburg, and is endorsed by over 100 organizations internationally. It brings together hundreds of presenters and participants from around the world for skills training in conflict resolution and for exploration of the essential elements of conflict, transformation, and healing. It maintains an extensive international network and each year promotes active cooperation and collaboration on various projects between participants and organizations represented. The ICR Conference also serves as a major networking and recruiting source for our training projects.
Registration is Open to All
    2009 ICR Conference Proposal Form

New Proposed
International Conference

Watch for details on a new proposed international conference
on conflict transformation and bridging the divide
to be launched in Cyprus


A collaboration between

CBI, International Humanistic Psychology Association, Near East University
, and the North Cyprus Ministry of Education

Registration is Open to All

  International Youth Conference on
"The Ecology of War and Peace (EWP)"

An international youth conference established in 2004 and sponsored by CBI, HARMONY Institute, and the International Humanistic Psychology Association in cooperation with the Jane Goodall Institute. The EWP Conference is a youth event for participants 14-18 years of age addressing issues of negative stereotypes, prejudice, and the demonizing and dehumanizing of "The Other." Working in cooperation with the Jane Goodall Institute's Roots & Shoots Program, the theme of ecology has been integrated as a common link all parties can resonate with as they delve into personal interactions and, as a community, explore these relationship dynamics.
Registration is Open to All

Integrated International Conference Series

In 2004 CBI initiated an experiment to coordinate an integrated series of 5 international conferences in 3 countries that shared a focus on exploring and advancing a consciousness of peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation. While each was independent with variations in partners, content, and goals, all events in this series were programmatically linked to build on each other for an energetic flow and larger impact. As a result of continuing this cooperation each year, outcomes have emerged and coalesced synergistically, inspiring promising new collaborative projects and partnerships, some of which CBI is directly involved in.

Following the success of this model we have continued the process each year, adding new conferences and inviting other international conferences to join in maximizing the energy and products of each event and promote an expanding network of social activists and healers for greater mutual benefit. A major goal is to raise the level, depth, and breadth of public awareness and dialogue on vital issues in exploring a consciousness of peace, to instill empowerment in the general public, and to foster proactive networks that create practical strategies for applying results in advancing capacity for a global culture of peace.

This model of integrated events continues through 2010.

Current Training Projects

In 1998, CBI established the International Training Program in Conflict Transformation as an extension of the ICR Conference. In addition to it's ongoing purposes, the ICR Conference serves as a major networking and recruiting source for training in this program. Currently two projects are operated out of this program:

Catastrophic Trauma Recovery Training (CTR)
A humanitarian relief effort established in 1998, designed to provide intensive "training of trainers" in catastrophic trauma recovery skills by expert teams of mental health specialists to local professionals and relief workers in regions of conflict assisting large civilian populations experiencing trauma from war and violence. Some of the regions represented are Russia, the Caucuses, Middle East, and Balkans. The project uses a comprehensive, integrated training/treatment model (CTR) for working with large populations of catastrophic trauma victims that is simple, standardized, repeatable, time sensitive, easily taught, and applicable cross-culturally. Assistance is intended for health professionals and relief workers from anywhere and is also appropriate for treating trauma due to natural catastrophe. CTR training teams are provided by an international consortium of professional training organizations. This humanitarian relief effort is endorsed and supported by NGO coordinating organizations within the regions served. As part of the training structure, CTR trainings are also typically attached to the ICR Conference and conducted immediately after.

Find Out How to Help Provide Trauma Treatment to War Victims


Capacity For Peace and Democracy - Palestine
A collaborative project with Al Azhar University In Gaza and the Arab American University In Jenin - AAUJ (West Bank) in the West Bank to establish a Center for Conflict Resolution and Human Rights at each university, and provide a pool of visiting professors and curriculum in Human Services (psychology, social work, health science, education) and Civil Society (democratic studies, conflict resolution/mediation, government, political science, economics/business).

The purpose is to help prepare future leaders in Palestinian society and local professionals skilled in providing critical human services to the population, all to increase capacity for a viable, peaceful Palestinian nation. Another aspect is creating opportunities for NGO's and community based institutions and universities in Palestine and Israel to cooperate on issues that promote understanding, acceptance, reconciliation, and forgiveness. The hope is that a new international conference being organized on "Engaging The Other" will eventually be hosted at one of these universities, with the joint sponsorship of an Israeli University. To date a Center for Conflict Resolution and Human Rights has been established at Al Azhar University.

Additional Efforts Under Development

To learn more about CBI and IHPA's following projects - some in their early stages of organization and some currently being put into action - please visit our page on Additional Efforts.

  • Expanding our Website as a vehicle for learning, sharing knowledge, networking, dialogue, collaboration, follow-up to training, and virtual community. (Among the features included will be a multimedia resource library, Journal of Conflict Transformation, E-newsletter, topical E-dialogues, E-working groups, clinical consultation seminars for trainees, etc).

  • "Engaging The Other": edited multicultural book on "The Other" in conjunction with the above conference.

  • "Engaging The Other" sensitivity training program geared toward the lay public addressing fear-based belief systems, negative stereotypes, and prejudice.

  • Children's Trauma Treatment Center. A project to create the 1st children's trauma treatment center in Nablus, West Bank.

  • Joint Palestinian/Israeli Trauma Treatment Training

  • Iraqi Trauma Treatment Training
  • Cooperative Publishing Vehicle for voices of reason - individuals from around the world with important, cutting edge ideas to stimulate and contribute to the public dialogue.
  • Establishing and developing locally based Professional Schools and Practical Training Programs In Human Services

Support our Efforts

by making a Tax Deductible donation
through our partner organization:
International Humanistic Psychology Association (IHPA)

How You Can Be Involved In Our Efforts
      by Volunteering or Interning

We invite you to contact us if you are interested in contributing your time, energy, and talents to assist our international efforts, and in doing so:

  • Create new possibilities for conflict transformation, prevention and healing in this pivotal time,

  • Form unique relationships with individuals and organizations throughout the world, and

  • Gain invaluable professional and personal experiences along the way

More About Becoming Involved with Common Bond Institute

Contact Us

To inquire about the activities and projects of CBI please contact:

Steve Olweean, Director and Conference Co-Coordinator
Telephone/Fax:  269-665-9393
Postal Address:   12170 South Pine Ayr Drive
                                Climax, Michigan  49034 USA

Visit Us On Facebook
Find videos, photos, samples of our conferences, etc. on Facebook
at: http://tinyurl.com/CBIonFB
or search for us on Facebook under: Common Bond Institute

Common Bond Institute
Steve Olweean, Director,  SOlweean@aol.com
12170  S. Pine Ayr Drive •
Climax, Michigan49034 USA
1.269.665.9393  (Phone and Fax
)
Website:  http://www.cbiworld.org
CONTACT US!
~

`