Training and Resources

The Climate Disobedience Center offers frequent trainings to our partner orgs, as well as to ad-hoc community groups. Our trainings are usually in-person, participatory workshops that involve discussion, group activities, and embodied practice. We can also offer online training options if necessary, and can travel for trainings with advance notice and logistical/financial support. Trainings can range from an hour and a half to a full 2 day workshop depending on the topic.

We usually schedule trainings on an as-requested basis according to gift economy principles. That means that we can often offer free workshops for community members, and accept donations and payment from larger funded groups. If you are interested in scheduling a training with our team, please check out the descriptions below about the types of workshops we can offer. We are also happy to talk with you to work out what type of training might be right for your situation. If you would like any of us to come speak on a panel or give a lecture in your classroom, we are also willing to do so depending on availability.

Note: we do not offer trainings to law enforcement.

De-escalation

This training reviews the basics of consent-based de-escalation work. We will discuss consent-based de-escalation as a framework, and the difference between accompaniment and peace-policing in relation to protest work. We will review relationship building and emotional regulation as the core components of de-escalatory work, and explore how we can introduce opportunities for choice and connection to otherwise stressful interactions. We will discuss the situational awareness and discernment needed for effective de-escalation, and explore tools for tracking a crisis and choosing if/when to engage. We will practice methods for diffusing an altercation; including body positioning, verbal techniques, creating a buffer, and preventing panic from spreading in a crowd. This training also includes a discussion on personal grounding and emotional regulation skills, including how to work with a buddy, remove oneself from an interaction, and debrief and process in the aftermath of an event.

Know Your Rights

This training covers basic information about your rights when interacting with police, and tips for protecting yourself legally during police interactions. It covers the typical steps of police engagement and escalation, and a few potential ways to respond when approached by the police.
NVDA (general)

NVDA trainings provide an overview of nonviolent direct action as a crucial tool within social change work. We discuss the types of power employed by nonviolent action, and review the difference between direct action, civil disobedience, and protest. We also explore the different definitions of nonviolence that may be present within a group, and discuss the different principles of way-of-life-nonviolence vs strategic nonviolence. We examine potential reasons why or why not to participate in a nonviolent direct action, and outline action agreements, security culture, group structure, legal briefing and action support roles as important considerations when deciding whether to participate. We practice the personal emotional regulation skills needed to participate in NVDA safely, including dealing with uncertainty, grounding, and acting with intention. Most NVDA trainings involve a scenario component, where we use a roleplay action to experiment with action roles, practice shifting group energy, and notice how individual actions can impact the larger group. NVDA trainings also usually contain a brief section on preparing to risk arrest, including basic know-your-rights information about police interactions and the arrest and court process.

NVDA (specific)

We also offer NVDA trainings tailored to specific groups or situations. If you are looking for a more specific NVDA training, please don’t hesitate to reach out!
Police Liaison

This is a how-to training for performing the role of police liaison at a protest or action. It covers the purpose of police liaisons, the conditions necessary for the role to work, and the ways that police liaisons can support and work with a larger activist safety team. It also includes tips for successful police-liaisoning, including how to act as a conversational buffer between police and other action participants.
Jail Support

This workshop provides a basic guide for performing the role of jail support during an action or protest. It includes how to prepare a jail support structure before an event and support participants who may be risking arrest, as well as an overview of the jail support team’s role after arrests have occurred. We will review the tasks that a jail support team should be ready to perform, and logistical tips for an effective and sustainable jail support process.

Event Safety Coordination

This training is an overview of how to organize a safety team for an event or protest. It covers threat modeling practices for what types of safety support may be necessary, as well as an overview of common protest safety support roles (de-escalation, street medic, community defense, traffic support, legal observers, jail support, etc). We will review how these roles can complement each other based on the situation, and discuss methods for ensuring effective communication between various roles within the larger safety-team. This training also addresses tips for organizing a safety team in advance of an event, briefing participants on day-of needs, and doing the follow-up and debriefing necessary to sustainable community safety work!

Campaign Strategy

Nonviolent direct action works best when it is part of a strategic, long-term campaign. This workshop explores campaign strategy as the core of our resistance work, and reviews methods for situating disobedient action within a larger pathway to change. We will discuss power mapping as a vital tool for selecting targets and potential points of intervention, and practice identifying the pillars of support that we can remove from a system. We will examine ways to create financial, reputational and logistical risks for those in power, and how we can leverage these risks for positive change. Most of all, we will explore methods of building collective power- by creating invitational yet polarizing actions that move people towards support for our work. We will practice crafting a sequence of actions that grows participation and pressure over time. Lastly, we will discuss the most crucial element of strategy- culture building! A campaign cannot exist effectively without a culture of trust-building, care, and conflict resolution that makes it sustainable, so we will explore ways of building a campaign culture that supports our larger strategy.

Action Planning

This workshop covers the basics of action planning- how to pick a target, scout a location, and choose a tactic that supports a larger strategy. We will explore the concept of action logic and how we can use action design and visuals to tell a larger story. We will review common action and support roles and their purposes, and use sample actions to practice planning out the roles and participants needed to pull off a specific tactic. We will also discuss the risk assessment and threat modeling involved in planning a direct action, and practice contingency planning as a tool that can help us prepare before something goes wrong. We will practice sketching out the choreography of an action, including sometimes-forgotten steps like staging, deployment, transportation, and what participants will do to keep morale up during the slower parts of the action.
Security Culture

This training reviews the basics of activist security culture- including how to assess security threats and build a culture of informed consent that is proportional to the legal and safety risks present. We will discuss the difference between security culture and security practices, and tips for making sure that security practices are tailored to a groups’ specific situation (and not based on a performative idea of what “real” activist security means). Most of all, we will explore the cultural elements of activist security, including how to build trust, honor consent, and accurately assess the pros and cons of potential security practices.
Fierce Vulnerability

This workshop introduces fierce vulnerability as a powerful tool for both personal and collective change. We will explore how the act of exposing our most personal truths can create powerful connections, spark personal transformation, and show others the possibility of change. We will practice the courage required to show up as our full selves in the face of danger, and gently interrogate the lies that the culture of domination has caused us to believe about ourselves. We help each other recognize the wisdom hidden behind these lies, and celebrate these truths as a beautiful sources of liberatory power.

Defendant Support

This training covers the legal side of action support work and practices for supporting defendants as they navigate the criminal legal system. We review the role of defendant support in a larger action-support structure, and how activist legal workers can build a network of care around those facing criminal and civil proceedings. We will discuss methods for building a defendant support team, tracking defendants and their cases, and collaborating with movement lawyers, legal observers, and jail support to support defendants. We will also cover the basics of how the criminal legal system operates in relation to protest charges, and the basic information that activist legal workers should know to help defendants understand this process.

Tactic-specific trainings

We also offer education on specific action tactics! Are you curious about how one might build an extremely robust banner? Blockade a railroad? Lockdown to a construction site? Turn a pipeline valve? Climb a piece of infrastructure? Sneak into an industry conference? Flood a FERC docket with filings? We can offer resources and education about ways that activists have successfully used such tactics in the past, and lessons-learned about safest practices for these hypothetical activities.

Way of Life Non-compliance

We talk a lot about way-of-life nonviolence, but what about way-of-life non-compliance? This workshop explores the active side of life-long nonviolent resistance, and especially ways that we can use sustained non-compliance with systems of power to enact change. We will discuss the role of collective complicity in upholding unjust structures, and the ways that fascist regimes get their power from collective participation. Most of all, we will examine the ways that strategic withdrawals of consent from everyday people can undermine (and topple) violent systems. We will explore possibilities for organizing around mass non-compliance, and how we can build the collective courage necessary for this type of action. Get ready to discuss rent and work strikes, draft and tax resistance, bill nonpayment, everyday acts of civil disobedience, and other ways to become ungovernable!

Trainings we can help you set up with our allies

Legal observer
Street medic
Stop the bleed
Tech security practices’
Kayaktivism and activist canoe skills