IAP2 Working with Conflict and High Emotion - Hosted by Kimberly Horndeski

IAP2's Working with Conflict and High Emotion

**You must first complete Fundamentals of Public Participation or IAP2's previous Foundations Training to take this course**

Assess the state of conflict and emotion in your public participation and engagement processes, and create productive and constructive approaches to address them.

Please note: Because this course builds on the core principles and frameworks introduced in Fundamentals of Public Participation and Engagement, completion of that course is required.

Price: $650

IAP2 Members: $550 (contact us for the member discount code)

Dates:

• March 17 - 20, 2026 | 1:00-5:00 ET

By the end of Working with Conflict and High Emotion, you will be ready to travel on a journey that improves mutual understanding, changes relationships and systems to meet human needs, contributes to building peace and creates lasting change.

The focus of this Level 3 course is on de-escalating and shifting conflict and high emotion to constructive participation, where forward momentum and resolution are possible. Participants will gain a deep understanding of the state of conflict, and work with practical, tangible approaches to deescalate and transform challenges. Over the course, we will cover tools, strategies and ways of working to resolve polarized and emotional challenges.

Course objectives

• Assess the state of conflict and emotion in the P2/engagement process, and create productive and constructive approaches
• Work with the stages of conflict escalation and apply the concepts of de-escalation
• Apply a variety of strategies to transform the conflict in P2/engagement
• Identify the impact of high emotion and apply a range of approaches to deescalate challenges
• Identify how to reduce conflict in situations of misinformation and duelling facts
• Apply the principles of storytelling to connect people to each other, increase understanding and reduce conflict
• Learn from mistakes and understand the role of failure in P2/engagement processes
• Identify and apply how to model integrity and behaviors that deescalate conflict
• Apply the strategies and tools to your own project or situation

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This is an IAP2 core training course delivered externally by an IAP2 licensed trainer. MUST REGISTER ON TRAINERS WEBSITE!

Click Here to Register on trainers website! 

Trainer: Kimberly Horndeski 

Kimberly Horndeski is a certified mediator, facilitator, and the Executive Director of Community Consulting LLC. Her work focuses on transforming conflict into successful strategies for the future. She has led multiple state, national, and international working groups to overcome challenges and reach agreement. Her projects include bottom-up approaches, such as establishing a coalition with fundamentally conflicting interests to collaboratively negotiate agreement on a $2.5 billion dollar component of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, and top-down approaches, such as assisting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to incorporate nationwide stakeholder values into the decision-making process for federally-listed threatened and endangered species. Kimberly knows it is not information alone that produces positive outcomes or reduces conflict. It is the ability to engage key stakeholders and effectively design, plan, and implement an engagement process that results in creative and lasting solutions for the future. 

Currently, Kimberly serves on the Leadership Council for the Association for Conflict Resolution’s Environment and Public Policy Section, and is a Professor of Practice on collaboration and communication for Virginia Tech University. She has previously served on IAP2 USA's Board of Directors.