The questions that come up most often when someone is considering signing up. Where we have firm answers, we give them. Where we don't yet, we say so honestly. We will update this page as the course evolves and the pilot teaches us things we don't know yet.
Is this religious?
No — and also, not not. The course draws on wisdom traditions across religions because peacemaking has been taught in those traditions for thousands of years. Each week cites Jewish, Christian, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, Indigenous, and modern secular sources side by side, treated as equal voices. You do not need to share any of them. You will not be asked to.
Is this for non-religious people?
Yes. Explicitly. The course is built for "all peace-loving people" — across faith traditions, identities, communities, and circumstances. Modern secular thinkers (psychologists, philosophers, civil rights leaders, conflict researchers) are cited in every week's sources, not as a side note but as part of the main body of voices.
Is this group therapy?
No. The course is a peer-led practice cohort. It is not led by a licensed therapist; the facilitator does not provide clinical care; and the cohort is not a treatment setting. The work may surface things that therapy is better equipped to handle — in which case the right move is to add a therapist, not to make the cohort do something it cannot do.
What's the difference between this course and a workshop or retreat?
A workshop or retreat happens in a contained moment and ends. This course is a ten-week cohort with weekly commitments between sessions. The work compounds. You change because you keep returning to the same room, the same cohort, the same practices — week after week. That continuity is the point.
Who teaches the course?
Lindsey Gibson, Peacemakers' Executive Director, will run the first pilot cohorts. Lindsey is a certified coaching instructor with nonprofit operating, fundraising, and workshop experience. As the materials get refined, the course is designed to be run by any trained facilitator, not just Lindsey.
How long is the course?
Ten sessions of two hours each, once a week. Plus a short Prep-Work step in the days before Session 01.
What's the weekly time commitment, really?
The visible commitment is the two-hour session each week. The invisible commitment is everything around it — a daily small practice (often just one breath), one specific action each week ("the commit"), one short check-in with your partner during the week. Realistically, plan on the two hours plus about 30–60 minutes spread across the rest of the week.
What if I miss a session?
Try not to. The cohort runs on continuity — each week opens with a report-back on the previous week's commit, and gaps break the pattern not just for you but for everyone else. If life forces a miss, tell Lindsey as early as you can, do the missed week's commit anyway, and come back ready to report on it. More than one or two misses in a cohort and the work loses its hold.
Can I drop out partway through?
Yes, and you should if the work isn't right for you — better to leave honestly than to attend half-present. But the bias is to stay. The hardest weeks are often the most important ones, and the cohort cannot replace a member who leaves mid-course.
Is there homework?
Yes, but not the academic kind. Each week ends with a specific commit — one action you'll take before the next session. Sometimes it's a conversation. Sometimes it's a daily practice. Sometimes it's a piece of honest writing. The cohort opens the next week with you reporting back on whether you did it and what you noticed.
I've never done anything like this before. Is that okay?
Yes. The course is built for adults willing to do the work, regardless of prior experience. Most cohorts will include both people who are new to this kind of practice and people who have been doing it for decades. The mix is part of what makes it work.
I've done a lot of this work — therapy, NVC, mediation training. Is that okay?
Also yes. The course brings together listening, repair, forgiveness, mediation, and standing-up work into one practice arc. Experienced practitioners often find that the cohort itself — the discipline of report-back week after week with a small group — does work that solo practice doesn't.
Can I bring my partner?
Not into the same cohort. Romantic partners and close family members are placed in different cohorts. The intimacy is too high to do the work freely with the other person in the room. You can both take the course — separately — and bring what you learn home together. See cohort formation for the full reasoning.
What if I'm in therapy? Or what if I'm not?
Either is fine. The course is not a substitute for therapy and is not in tension with it. Many participants will have a therapist; many will not. If you're in active crisis — recent loss, severe symptoms, ongoing acute trauma — therapy is the right first step, and the course will be here when you have more capacity for this kind of work alongside it.
What if I'm here because someone else suggested it?
That is honest data. Bring it to the interview with Lindsey. The course works only when you have chosen to be there yourself. Sometimes a nudge from someone you trust is what gets you to the interview; that is fine. Showing up only to please someone else is not. The interview is the place to be honest about why you are considering this.
How do I sign up? TBD
For the first pilots, sign-up will be by direct invitation and email to Lindsey. A public sign-up flow will be built as the pilot phase progresses. If you're reading this and want to be on the early-cohort list, the path is to be in touch with Peacemakers directly.
What does it cost? TBD
The pilot cohorts will likely be free or by donation. The longer-term plan, named in our rollout, is to sell the workbook and facilitator materials at a modest price for self-facilitated groups, and to run virtual cohorts on a fee that funds the organization. Honest answer: we have not set prices yet.
Where do cohorts meet? TBD
The first pilots will meet in person, in a location chosen with the cohort. Virtual cohorts (over video, for people who can't form a group locally) are part of Phase 04 of the rollout. The first virtual cohort is not yet scheduled.
How is my information handled?
The four ground rules of every cohort include confidentiality: what is said in the room stays in the room. A formal confidentiality agreement is being built as part of the operational layer of the course. Until that exists, the verbal commitment named in Session 01 is the standard the cohort holds. (A formal written version is in the work-streams list.)
What if something serious comes up during the course?
The facilitator is trained to recognize when something is too heavy for the cohort to hold and to point participants toward professional support. Weeks 05, 06, 07, and 09 in particular can surface difficult material. The course is not a crisis-intervention setting — and the facilitator will not pretend otherwise.
Is there a certificate or anything? TBD
We haven't decided. Some participants will want the formality; some will reject it. The honest answer is that we are still working out what "completion" means in a course whose main claim is that the practice doesn't end.
What happens after Week 10?
Week 10 itself addresses this directly. Each participant leaves with a sustaining commit — a daily practice, a community of practice (two or three people who will keep doing the work alongside you), and a scheduled hard thing every quarter. The cohort itself often continues informally after the course ends.
Is there an alumni community? TBD
Not yet, and we want to be honest about that. Building an alumni and continuing-community structure is named explicitly in our work-streams list. As cohorts graduate, this is one of the things that has to be built.
Can I become a facilitator after taking the course? TBD
Eventually, yes — facilitator training is part of how the course scales. The training pathway is also still being built. If you finish the course and want to keep going as a facilitator, tell us. The first wave of facilitators will be drawn from the first pilots.
Can I take it again?
Yes. The work compounds across multiple cycles, and the second time through is a different course than the first — partly because the cohort is different, partly because you are. Some practices, like the appreciation round in Week 10, are designed to be repeatable.
Don't see your question?
The most useful version of this page comes from the questions people actually ask before they sign up. If yours is not here, bring it to the interview with Lindsey, or send it to us so we can add it. We will keep updating this page as the pilot teaches us what people most want to know.