USU Conversational Space Makers bridge conflict through conversation
Conversational Space Makers is a conflict resolution program offered to Utah State University students, by USU students.
This program provides students with a neutral and safe environment to talk about their challenges in a confidential setting.
According to the USU space makers website, spacemakers serve the role of a listener for students.
“They are not there to judge, advise or solve. Instead, you’re the boss and you set the boundaries. You choose where the conversation goes,” the website states.
Nicole Hardy is a senior pursuing communication studies at USU. She works as a conversational spacemaker, and said her favorite part about being a spacemaker is being able to help people feel more peace in their lives.
Hardy said students can meet with a spacemaker to resolve and talk about any conflict they may have — whether it be roommate conflicts, relationship struggles, overwhelming emotions or big life decisions.
“Conflict can be stressful, and it can bring anxiety and stress and just darkness in your life,” Hardy said. “But being able to help people work through their conflicts and seeing the peace, and the calm and the happiness that can come to them is probably my favorite part of space.”
Clair Canfield is a senior lecturer in communication studies at USU. He is also the program director of Conversational Space Makers.
“This is a unique program to Utah State, the closest thing that you would find is something like peer mediation or conflict coaching, but there isn’t a program quite like this anywhere else,” Canfield said.
Canfield emphasized how important this resource is and that it’s available to all USU students.
“It’s not uncommon for people to have troubles with their roommates, troubles with their group projects, troubles in their relationships, troubles with interactions with professors, with family members. There are a lot of reasons why all of us face conflict on a pretty regular basis, and it’s really normal,” Canfield said. “We know that even though everybody has to work through those things and make decisions on their own, it really helps to have somebody who knows how to support you as you navigate that.”
Similar to Canfield, Hardy said regardless of what major someone is in, conflict is something everyone is going to face at some point in their life.
Spacemaker Justin Seegrist said he understands how people can initially feel hesitant or nervous to sign up for a space making appointment.
Seegrist has worked in the space making program for six semesters.
He said he likes watching people come to realizations they initially didn’t think they could.
“We don’t tell people how to resolve the conflicts, and we don’t fix the problem for people. We enable them to work through it on their own, and we help them learn the tools that they need in order to navigate the conflicts in a more meaningful way,” Seegrist said.
He also said space is up to the student utilizing the resource. It is about where they are at, and what they want to share.
“If they want to share the little details, they could share the little details. Or, if they want to share some more, then they can share some more,” Seegrist said. “A lot of people have said that it’s a lot more comfortable than they thought it would be, and that it’s a lot more helpful than they thought that it would be.”
Mara Smuin is a senior studying history and communications. She is another spacemaker at USU.
Smuin said everything is confidential in the space making program.
“What happens in space essentially stays in space. And not only that, but we believe in double confidentiality, which means that we won’t talk to other people about it — about what happens in the appointment — and we won’t bring it up to the person that we’ve made space for,” Smuin said.
Seegrist also said they hold all of their space making appointments via zoom out of respect to double confidentiality.
“In a space making appointment, there’s a couple rules or boundaries that the space maker follows. We choose to not judge the person, and we choose to keep the conversation confidential. We believe that everyone is a human who deserves to be loved and respected. And we believe in everyone’s capacity to change,” Hardy said.
There are 26 different USU students trained as spacemakers who are available to meet through appointment. Students can schedule with them through the USU space making website.
Canfield said he loves seeing how space making empowers students. He said those who receive space feel empowered because they recognize they can actually work through their conflicts and their challenges on their own.
“My observations have been that there are a lot of people, not just students, who have experiences in life where they need a really good listener. They need a witness, or they need somebody who knows how to make a conversational space for them to work through what they’re facing, and we want to be able to offer that to those people who need it,” he said.
Thanks to space making, Canfield said he’s seen people work through grief, he’s seen people make really big decisions in regards to their education and their career goals, he’s watched people navigate the forgiveness process and he’s seen people heal family relationships.
Smuin said space making changed her life and she hopes more people are able to learn about it and come to an appointment.
“We are excited to hopefully expand our reach and have students from all across Utah State — have all the aggies — be part of the program and get helped with their conflicts,” Hardy said.
USU Conversational Space Makers lies within The Heravi Peace Institute, which is a part of the College of Humanities & Social Sciences at USU.
Follow @givespaceusu on Instagram for more updates and information about this conflict resolution resource and schedule an appointment through their website.
-Kate.Stewart@usu.edu
Graphic by Bailey Rigby