Community Listeners

What is a Community Listener?

Could it be you? Or someone you know?

Have you ever thought you would like to…

…help to reduce tensions & make a positive difference in your community?

…communicate better when people disagree with you?

But not known where to start?

A Community Listener could be anyone who wants to…

  • Help make communities friendlier and safer places for everybody
  • Challenge effectively when we see someone being treated unfairly
  • Be part of a team of people who want to make a difference in their communities
  • Handle disagreements better with friends, family, neighbours and work colleagues
  • Help people round us understand each other better when they are at odds with each other
  • Feel more comfortable and confident talking about ‘difficult’ issues
  • Feel more at ease with people who seem different from ourselves
  • Find out more about our diverse communities
  • Have fun while learning new skills

What does it involve?

Community ListenersThere are lots of people eager to make our community more welcoming for everybody. But often we don’t know where to start.
Sometimes, it is fear which can get in the way of being more welcoming – fear of the unknown, of making mistakes, of being embarrassed, of being seen as racist or politically incorrect – as well as our own experiences of mistreatment and prejudice. These can make it seem risky to be open and friendly.
NCBI is offering free training for 8 weeks in skills for active listening, bridge-building and conflict resolution. The intention is to build trained and supported teams of people who will be able to work together to take a lead in their communities to help people to understand each other better; to address areas of potential tension in a constructive way; to create opportunities for exploring and resolving controversial issues together and to reduce the likelihood of violence.
Community Listeners will work together with mentors to identify where and how they want to make a difference. Wherever there is a source of potential tension, they can help to defuse it, by giving people a ‘good listening to’, and by creating ‘safe spaces’ or ‘safe events’ where people can talk openly together about their disagreements. They can also support events organised by other groups, for example, a football tournament to kick racism out of football.
Each Community Listener will be mentored by a member of the trained NCBI staff and volunteer team.

What’s in it for the Community Listeners?

  • Raised confidence and self-esteem
  • Greater feeling of belonging in our local communities
  • Empowered to make a real difference
  • Lots of fun!
  • 24 hours free training (three hours a week for 8 weeks)
  • Improved skills:
    • To communicate better with people who disagree with us
    • To build better relationships with different people in our community
    • To challenge prejudice and mistreatment more effectively
    • To work more constructively with conflict
    • To take action to defuse tensions and reduce the risk of violence
    • To join with others to make a positive difference in our communities
  • Opportunity to practise those skills in a supported environment, as part of a team with mentoring and supervision
  • Invaluable experience:
    • In working as part of a team
    • In working with diverse people
    • In working with ‘difficult’ issues
    • In helping to determine the direction of the project
    • In helping to plan safe ‘listening events’ in the community
  • Opportunity to benefit from further NCBI training and to support, if they wish, NCBI’s work in schools and the wider community