The Center for Reconciliation (CFR) hosts regular meetings to foster understanding of topics related to conflict transformation, just peace, and reconciliation. CFR believes the way we engage conflict has the potential to support personal, community, and institutional transformation.  Join CFR for an in-person conversation on November 15 from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the 0013 Westbrook classroom. This event is part of the CFR Conversation Series.

The presenter is Valerie Helbert, program coordinator for the Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School. She currently instructs the Berean Cohort, CFR’s advanced spiritual formation group, coordinates planning for the annual Summer Institute for Reconciliation, and supports various other CFR programs. She serves as a board member and occasional pilgrimage facilitator for the local non-profit DurhamCares. She is also very active in her local congregation, Peace Covenant Church of the Brethren.

Helbert earned an M.A. in conflict transformation in 2008 from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., where she also worked on staff for eight years before moving to Durham. In July 2023, Helbert completed her certification as a trainer in Kingian Nonviolence through On Earth Peace, a recognized agency of the Church of the Brethren.

Helbert's talk on November 15 is titled "An Introduction to Kingian Nonviolence."