Domum Corium Cordis (House of Leather Heart)
Presents "Tools for Reducing Internal Community Conflict"

Introduction

Tools for Reducing Internal Community Conflict is an advanced, concept-dense class focused on recognizing, understanding, preventing, and navigating conflict in human communities. While grounded in the lived realities of alternative, leather, and kink spaces, the tools presented apply broadly to any group where strong emotions, diversity, leadership, and shared values intersect.

 

Conflict is inevitable—but endless drama, burnout, and community fracture are not. This class explores why conflict escalates, how certain patterns repeat, and what practical frameworks can help individuals and communities respond more effectively. Participants will examine common sources of conflict, factors that intensify harm, and the limits of traditional “just talk it out” advice.

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This class has over eight hours of material, and growing.  An overview is possible in 3-4 hours.  Individual components can be provided in about 30 minutes to one hour.

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Rather than offering simple answers or moral judgments, the class presents a structured toolbox: recognizing conflict patterns, assessing intensity, avoiding drama cycles, understanding trauma-informed responses, and choosing proportionate strategies for prevention and resolution. Topics include community perception clashes, drama dynamics, cultural conflict styles, codes of conduct, vetting, mediation, restorative approaches, and when disengagement or removal is necessary.

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This is a survey-level class designed to spark insight, self-reflection, and healthier community practices—not to resolve personal disputes on the spot. Participants are encouraged to take what is useful, question assumptions, and continue learning beyond the session.

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Tools for Prevention and Resolution of conflict is the objective. Tools to help navigate conflict is an essential pathway toward that objective.

 

Related Writings

This project was sourced from or resulted in a number of other focused writings. You may wish to peruse these writings as other ways to explore components of community conflict.

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• Disappointed in Your Community? This May Be Why.

• The Leather & Kink Narcissist Playbook

• Ethical Accountability - Structure & Approach

• Surrounded by Assholes - What do you do?

• Conflict Resolution Techniques: Healthy versus Weaponized

• Conflict Resolution & Prevention for Cultural Appropriation in Kink, BDSM, and Leather Communities

 

Motivations

Motivation for developing this class was observation of a variety of conflicts @DaddyBearMike didn't understand, behaviors about which I was naive, all resulting in conflict that wasted time and sucked the fun for me and the community around me -- whether I was involved with it or not. Interest and investigation started in 2018 follow by leisurely studying and attending community classes, such as those at LLC taught by @Master_Varii and many others seeking solutions to conflict that seems to increasingly rip apart communities.

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Much work in 2024-2025 transformed notes and research into this class, which was presented in parts (one tool at a time) in various venues. Visits with multiple psychologists and clinicians followed to step through the ideas and refine them. A 4-hour intensive was taught at @Kinktoberfest 2025. A future 4-hour intensive at @SouthPlains Leatherfest 2026 motivated refinement and production of a version 1.0 set of videos for the whole class was produced in early January 2026 as a resource to hopefully help others, and also allow students of sections or even the 4-hour intensive see and review additional material. In July 2026 a number of other writings came from interactions teaching this class and considering their content. These were added in the "Related Writings" section above and will hopefully contribute to a revised version of this class in the future.

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More About The Class

This intensive course offers an insightful overview of multiple essential tools for recognizing, understanding, and navigating community conflict. You'll learn practical techniques and strategies, through tools, for preventing and resolving conflicts, tailored specifically for community leaders. No single tool or approach is sufficient on its own, but together, they provide a robust framework intended to better foster harmony and collaboration. Drawing from a wealth of sources and new material, vetted by multiple psychology professionals, the live class includes engaging group conversations.

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While the tool does revisit and restructure some existing material such as Drama Triangle, and Six Approaches to Resolve Conflict, Restorative Justice, and Non-Violent Communication, the class has many new tools that don't appear widely in other sources. These new tools were created to address observations about conflict that did not seem to be well-consolidated into a practical tool structure. Because of the breadth of material, much of this material is at a high level. It will be beneficial to study each tool or topic online, in books, or in discussions with others to gain more competency.

 

Videos produced for this class are... "dry as toast" without the live engagement of a classroom setting. This is partially true because I had the flu while creating these first videos.  This can be overcome by watching the videos as a group and having discussions throughout. Videos are open captioned in English.

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This class will continue as a work in progress, adding new concepts and tools that might be useful.

 

Watching the Videos

Videos are available on Fetlife @LeatherHeart. They are also available as downloads as MP4s upon request. See the QR Code in the graphic below for the MP4s. Videos are also listed in a Writing "Education, Classes, Lectures" along with other classes taught by @LeatherHeart on Fet.

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Please note that this is an instructor-only first version of this class. It won't be as dynamic as an in-person version of this class -- it will be very dry in parts. Get a cup of coffee, pace yourself, skip around as needed. Better yet, watch this with a group of others and pause to discuss along the way. Sometimes slides are read rather than overviewed in order to provide more complete audio for those who might be visually impaired. The next version, expected May 2026 or later, of the video will have more high level dynamic content.

 

Taking the Class

This class can be presented in multiple approaches. Total material in the class is too long for a single class setting. The best approach for full understanding is through a series of short classes that cover one or two tools at a time. Another approach is a 4-hour intensive that covers all or most of the material at a higher level.

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Feedback & Collaboration

We welcome feedback in further refinement and development of this tool. We also welcome potential collaborative ways to help reduce community conflict with this material and beyond this material, such as through practical implementation of approaches and methods described in the class.

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The following is an outline of the current components of the course:

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