A WELCOMING, fun and light atmosphere will be on the menu when The Conflict Cafe opens in Inverell on Wednesday, April 17.
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Over the course of an hour, guests will "taste" practices at the cafe to develop interpersonal skills, facilitator Jane O'Brien said.
Inverell is the first place in Australia to open a Conflict Cafe, having imported the idea from Canada.
The cafe has been organised in Inverell by the Percolab Coop team, of which Ms O'Brien is a member.
Percolab facilitators aim to open other such cafes in Melbourne and Brisbane after their debut in Inverell.
An Inverell local, Ms O'Brien said she was looking forward to the cafe opening in Inverell.
"We will be looking at how we can move through tension and conflict together," Ms O'Brien said.
"The 'cafe' is about strengthening and deepening our relationships with each other, so we can move through conflict together well."
Guests can book in for an hour on their own, or with friends, work colleagues or family members.
"La Chicanerie" as it is known in Canada and France, was created by social innovation cooperative Percolab and launched in Montreal, Canada in 2021.
Regular events have been hosted in Montreal, and it is currently a public program at the Musée de la civilisation, Quebec.
"Normalising conflict is an essential key to building a more equitable and sustainable society," Ms O'Brien said.
"Through practices that support us to better understand relational conflict and collaboration, we can begin to see conflict as a gift, rather than something to be feared."
The activities are based on Percolab's research, and have been used in the organisation for the past seven years in Australia, and 15 years internationally.
The Conflict Café will offer three, one-hour sessions at The Bower Collective, 56 Otho St, Inverell, on Wednesday, April 17 from 11am to 2.30pm.
For more information, contact Ms O'Brien at jane@percolab.coop.