Have you noticed how the current global conflicts impact our relationships closer to home? Our political viewpoints can create division in our families, and our emotional responses to the never ending stream of heartbreaking news can alienate us from our loved ones. When taking a closer look, our relationship dynamics sometimes can seem microcosms of bigger political events.

So how do we find connection in a world where there's so much division?

For the past thirteen years, Lira Low has been practicing the art of conflict resolution and mediation in (armed) conflicts all around the world, from conflicts between countries, to conflicts between romantic partners.

During this lunch time Love Session, Lira will share common triggers for conflict, and how we can manage our own mental health as an important tool for conflict management.

THE WORLD IN A RELATIONSHIP: how to resolve radical differences

ABOUT LIRA LOW

Lira Low is a conflict resolution, mediation and trauma specialist based in Zürich, Switzerland.

Her expertise lies in the application of mental health and trauma-informed approaches to mediation and conflict management, for which she is called on to advise companies, humanitarian organisations, and individuals through her company The Mencius Advisory as a mediator and therapist. Working at the personal level, she has helped many couples and families to navigate through the most complex and stressful conflicts in healthy and sustainable ways.

Her professional background started with career diplomacy serving the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs focusing on the Middle East, before transitioning to private diplomacy and international armed conflict mediation for the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD) where she worked on opening backchannels of communication in peace processes. During this time she retrained with further education in mental health and specialised in trauma-focused therapy, published on the psychological dimensions of peacemaking and eventually pioneered the application of trauma-sensitive approaches to mediation processes for HD.