History of Essential Peacemaking/Women & Men
"This workshop is not about romance, or sex, or love-partners. This is about ordinary men and women bringing all of their gifts to the party. The co-leadership that results is more than the sum of male and female leadership - there is magic involved."
- Jerilyn Brusseau & Danaan Parry,
co-founders of Essential Peacemaking, Women & MenEssential Partnership/Women & Men grew out of our ongoing relationship with Essential Peacemaking/ Women & Men, a training co-created by Jerilyn Brusseau and Danaan Parry through the international alliance known as The Earthstewards Network, The seeds of the program came out of conflict resolution and citizen diplomacy work in such difficult arenas as Northern Ireland and Israel/Palestine. Through community work that brought together members of conflicting groups (such as Catholics and Protestants), three things became clear:
- Gender roles and conditioning are an element in every conflict.
- When divided into their own gender groups, people across many cultures are willing to drop down into a genuine dialogue around gender conflict that, while often painful, is rich and healing.
- Once in this deeper level of dialogue, doors open to addressing other issues that have previously been too difficult to approach directly. Gender thus becomes a powerful "back door " through which one can address other conflicts.
Danaan and Jerilyn's vision was that "ordinary folks" could take responsibility for bringing together their own communities in small groups, teaching these skills and offering a safe space for their practice. In this way, they believed, real change and healing could occur between and among the genders. Since the introduction of this work in 1992, more than 400 people from 30 different countries have been trained as facilitators for the One-Day EP/W&M Gathering.
Jane Helsley and Dirk Velten were trained by Jerilyn and Danaan, first as 1-day facilitators, then as 2-day trainers, and finally, as 3-day trainers to carry on their work in training facilitators. In the five years following Danaan's untimely death in 1996, Jane and Dirk have trained facilitators in the U.S., Europe and Russia.
Based in Dallas, TX, USA, Dirk and Jane are partners in both life and business. Their consulting company, Mandorla Resources International, offers training and coaching in bringing together differences in a spirit that allows for genuine communication, healing and reconciliation. MRI's affiliates are drawn from a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural alliance of remarkable people, including colleagues, trainers, and facilitators from around the world.
"There is a lot of wounding, on all sides, that needs to be healed. We need to sit down with each other and allow the differences to be, and approach with awe the fact that two beings can hold such differences as male and female. Then we can begin taking the wires off the bomb."
- Jerilyn Brusseau
"For us to be able to heal, for us to even listen to one another, it has to come from a basis of respect. The first step of that respect is for us to respect ourselves. When I feel good about being a man, then I can use that male energy for something I'll be proud of."
- Danaan Parry
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