As of 2025, our Plank Owners have been and are the special group of less than 200 people, the ones who'd stepped on board...gave tons of feedback and broke the champagne bottle with us as we played with what to name it and hammered out what makes it work. They did the programs (sometimes over and over) not knowing what to expect and before we could make promises that we'd gotten anything right. That matters when they did it, and it matters now. They were 'there' earlier than anyone else. They'll always be special.
- Joan Feringa, Founder
Are you a Conflict First Aid™ PLANK OWNER
What's a plank owner? A plankowner (or 'plank owner') is a term generally applied to crew members that were present when a ship is first commissioned. Historically, a 'plank' was used to board a ship (hence the terms "board" or "come aboard". Planking is also done when older ships could be broken apart to be given to her last crew: this is not longer a practice given ships aren't often made of wood!
Our Community has "Plank Owners"
They were part of the 'commissioning' and recommissioning crews for each and every one of the in-person and online research and program soft-launches, which included:
Conflict First Aid pilot programs; and,
Initial certification programs.
The Plank Owner Program
All Plank Owner Conflict First Aiders were invited for the launch of the first certificate program in 2020. Further, in 2021, they were onboarded to the Conflict First Aid™ Community Training Portal.
As a group they were granted specific privileges.
Those still apply!
Though "the portal" was decommissioned at the beginning of 2024, nothing has changed: A new era for the training was beginning. Slowly. Please be patient with getting back on board. Never be afraid to ask questions!
Wish you could ask the founder a question?
Joan is still part of everything "Conflict First Aid" and personally serves the Plank Owner Community.
If you have question, she'll answer! Email her, here.
In Progress - Not Perfection...
We'd love perfection, but now that we've found - and have - the missing piece in conflict prevention, management, and de-escalation, and we've found it both simple and quick: we've adopted "in progress, not perfection" as our core principle as we work to 'start up' again. A new platform is a priority: the Conflict First Aid™ approach is intact: 5 SAFE waypoints, a sequence of steps that have proven to be possible by anyone whose taken the training. Yes, voluntary. In any moment, in virtually any place, and with anyone ready to help.
Questions?
Email [email protected]
Get equipped with Conflict First Aid™. Learn in just a few hours how the SAFE, universal, evidence-based model help everyone stay calm, confident, and easily out of the middle.
Contact us. We're all rebuilding. The answers you want can be asked...just ask them, email, here.
If there is need for help with difficult people or their problems just now, just once, or given a consistently damaging concern or frustration - there are options to address it.
Conflict First Aid can help...reach out, here.
Spread the word!
