The Value of the Guardians of Peace GPx Credential, a proposal...
In 2010, the GPx credentialling process was offered for the first time. The credential promotes conflict facilitation in organizations of all kinds. In addition, the GPx designation distinguishes conflict facilitation professionals from other related professions. The GPx certification has become recognized as the hallmark of excellence within the conflict-systems field.
How does the GPx add value to our profession and our organizations? Here are six reasons professionals should obtain and maintain their certification:
- The GPx is the only credential in the world that demonstrates mastery of the body of knowledge associated with comprehensive conflict facilitation. It validates to both individual and organizational clients that the practitioner has a basic knowledge of issues unique to both micro- and macro- systems conflict as as well as the process arts facilitation skills needed to provide accurate, appropriate and confidential assessment, referral, response, and intervention services.
- Having the GPx credential benefits your compensation and your career. Many companies will only hire certified professionals to provide sensitive services. In addition certified profesionals are often compensated at a higher rate than non-certified pracitioners. Companies will often take on certified practitioners as affiliate providers without making them jump through the hoops they require of other non-certified professionals.
- Becoming a practicing Guardian of Peace with the GPx certification facilitates staying on the cutting edge of developments in the field through continuing education and training opportunities.
- Having the GPx demonstrates that you subscribe to an explicit Code of Conduct and are accountable for the ethics indicated by your behavior.
- Obtaining the GPx is a rigorous process. The Guardians of Peace Certification Commission (GPxCC) recognizes that the three-tiered process of advisement, professional development hours and exam is challenging. However; the Guardians believe that making the credential process require a greater depth of practice makes more consistent the quality of GPx professionals in the field. Further it demonstrates to external organizations that the certificate holder has had the opportunity to internalize and bring to bear a specialized body of knowledge that goes beyond mechanical skills.
- The body of knowledge represented by the GPx helps promote a strong profession and cultural transition toward "conflict done well." (BW)
The Guardians encourage you to call the Director of GPx Credentialing
Brandon WilliamsCraig, Ph.D. is the founder of Culturesmith partnerships, consulting, and services. Working across domains by blending many areas of expertise, his professional work in the last decade alone has included:
- Becoming a member of the Customer Success team at Learning Pool, one of the most humane and successful international eLearning companies with over 1500 customers worldwide, 5.1M active learners, and a 98% recommendation rate.*
- Creating the Martial Nonviolence method, building the Peace Practices curriculum and project with international funding, and developing the work as a whole into the Conflict Done Well system
- Engaging in public service with the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Census by contributing to the administration and field operations of the 2020 Enumeration
- Serving for its entire history as co-founder, Executive Director, and then CEO of the Bay Area nonprofit Association Building Community, or ABC (ABCglobal.net)
- Returning to teach graduate students of every level at his alma mater, Pacifica Graduate Institute, in the Depth Psychology Somatics Department
- Serving as Communications Director for Ragged Wing Ensemble and The Flight Deck, a theater company and community arts facility in downtown Oakland, California.
Born and raised in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas, his first career was in the professional regional and touring theater, as well as in choral music and as a liturgical soloist. His Ph.D. in mythological studies and depth psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute combines psychology, literature, and religious studies to demonstrate the indispensable interoperability of the humanities with social science, organizational development, and public policy. His teaching and research focuses on the history and literature of psychology, the psychology of genre, the embodied (somatic) psychology of belief, the narrative construction of culture and the threat of disinformation to The Myth of Peace, and the development of the Process Arts.
Brandon has extensive experience contributing to the leadership of and teamwork within private and public institutions, accepts executive positions corp-to-corp and as a contractor or employee, offers leadership and facilitation training, and has worked in the study of peace and conflict since 1998, as well as providing curriculum development, conflict education, and community mediation services.
Brandon Sensei is a 5th degree blackbelt in aikido. He is founder and Chief Instructor of Aikido Oak Cliff, and was founder/Chief Instructor of Free Aiki Dojo and served as Chief Instructor of Golden Bears Aikido at UC Berkeley. He is also an un-ranked (not yet licensed to teach) member of the Takamura ha Shindo Yoshin Kai, a classical budo school (koryu) directed by Kaicho Toby Threadgill. This style of jujutsu influences his aikido and all of his martial and somatic learning.
Brandon's body-based facilitation method, called Martial Nonviolence (MNv), pairs traditional aikido, professional theater techniques, and real-time facilitation, and is the heart of the work presented and developed at Culturesmith.com. His somatics students learn to Embody Nonviolence through somatic conflict resolution. His clients focused on leadership, management, and administration practice Conflict Done Well. MNv also powers an internationally funded Peace Practices curriculum being offered by ABC and practiced by students from 4 to 84 years of age in Montessori, public, and private schools. Brandon resides in North Texas with his wife and two children, and consults nationally and internationally.
To request a seminar, please visit https://goo.gl/forms/1zXJiCOaJ63BgJrz2
* (numbers from Summer 2022 - now expanded)
Contact Information:
brandon at culturesmith dot com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bdwilliamscraig
Please call 972-503-6991 to schedule face-to-face client/consultation times.
Background and pages of note...
About me
MARTIAL ~ aikido
LIBERAL ~ psychology ~ mythology ~ Associative Inquiry
PROCESS ~ Group Process Design and Facilitation ~ leadership ~ Administration
PERFORMING ~ Theater - Music ~ Improvisation ~ Demonstration ~ activism
PEACE ~ Community Building, Conflict Done Well ~ for generations...
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All parties to this agreement recognize and support the claims of Brandon Williamscraig Ph.D. upon his intellectual properties under the terms described here. For instance, but without limitation thereby, while there are practices in the public domain involving the extension of principles associated with martial arts, in particular jujutsu and aikido, into venues beyond physical training in "dojos" and other training situations, it is the original and singular contribution of Dr. Williamscraig to 1) combine physical martial movements and techniques with specific words, scripts, and phrases; 2) to call this innovation "Aikido Two Point Oh" or "Aikido 2.0"; 3) control use of the unique methods and names he originates to circulate his methods, including "Martial Nonviolence", which uses Aikido 2.0 to develop the ability to perform well, in the sense both of taking action and displaying or demonstrating for an audience, especially under pressure, through improvisation skills, and use these methods to become a skillful facilitator of teamwork and group decision-making; 3) apply this original method in curricular form under the unique title "Peace Practices", a curriculum, idea, and name which he may offer or license under terms he deems acceptable but is under no obligation to continue or extend beyond whatever is established by contract; 4) retain exclusive right to present his unique methods and names under the title and rubric "Conflict Done Well" for all intents and purposes.
By using this site you agree that All parties to this agreement agree that his websites, including Culturesmith.com and others, all code, configuration, and all original contents are intellectual property retained in all parts and for all uses by Brandon Williamscraig. All parties further agree to refrain from claiming credit for ideas originated by Brandon Williamscraig, a partial list of which may be found here, and will give credit to Brandon Williamscraig by name in any work, via any form of communication, should his ideas be mentioned or extrapolated into/from images or concepts originated or synthesized by him in any medium.
You understand that Brandon coined and reserves the right for everyone to share the term "Process Arts", which refers to the field of group process design and facilitation. When he teaches or facilitates, he often describe what happens using various names and phrases he originated. He owns the exclusive right to use following phrases, variations, and associated acronyms and URLs: Free Aiki and Free Aiki Dojo, People Green, Bluevolution (Bv), Associative Inquiry (AsIn) and Archetypal Resonance Imaging (ARI), Analogical System Knowledgebase (ASK), Associative Inclusion Dynamics (AID), Embody Nonviolence, The Myth of Peace, Healing Friction, Martial Nonviolence (MNv), Culturesmith, Arts of Peace, Flexibility In Adversity Training (FIAT), and variations of: "Conflict Done Well"(CDW), "peace is conflict done well", "doing conflict well", "Aiki anywhere", bdwc.net, and williamscraig.com. Also originated and reserved to the Commons are: culturopoiesis and culturopoesis, metashaman, and metashamanism, whereas he reserve the right to own the URLs that reflect these terms.
Specialties
Peace practices, community building and conflict facilitation; mediation and negotiation; social profit organizing and administration, ensemble creation, and team building; spoken and media-based communications and performance; academic learning and administration; supervision and management.
Musings
Of interest
Uploaded resource
Relationships
Brandon WilliamsCraig+Project(s) Organizing
Brandon WilliamsCraig+Project(s) Participating
Brandon WilliamsCraig+Core Project
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