Conflict Process developed for the improv community in conjunction with SEEDS

Transform Belonging founder Lauren Lofton is the primary author of a one of a kind diversity, equity, inclusion & racial justice toolkit for civil legal aid organizations. Lauren authored the document while serving as the Program Attorney for Legal Aid Association of California. The document has been designed intentionally to be a living document and may be updated annually. View the toolkit linked here.

In this guest blog, Lauren (Finn) Lofton (Senior Subsidized Housing Advocate & Policy Analyst for Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco and a participant in CompassPoint's Public Training Program) asks: how can we center self-care in social justice movement work?

"Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” — Audre Lorde

Black Hastings Speaks is a project of the UC Hastings Center for Racial and Economic Justice (CREJ). The series is modeled after the StoryCorps podcasts and aims to preserve and present, with dignity, authentic stories of Black experiences within the UC Hastings community. Lauren served as a guest interviewer for the podcast.

Organized by the Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution (CNDR), the program imparted vital “soft skills,” which both the American Association of Law Schools and the American Bar Association stress are vital for producing well-rounded advocates. Students learned from top faculty and staff, exploring topics such as language choice and building trust; personalities and conflict styles; anger and de-escalation; negotiation skills; managing emotions and bias; and power imbalances.

In early March 2020, Lauren Lofton was at a conference in Tennessee, where the mood was dire. The state had just been devastated by 10 tornadoes. By the time Lofton arrived home in California, UC Hastings Law’s campus was moving into pandemic lockdown, where it would remain for more than a year. Lofton, who uses they/them/theirs pronouns, had started in their role as UC Hastings’ Associate Director for Student Life and Inclusion less than two months prior.