Conflict Resolution for Kids (CRK) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children, families, and educators build lifelong skills for healthy communication and effective problem-solving. We start early—supporting the education of kindergarten through fifth-grade students at the stage where empathy, self-awareness, and social understanding begin to take root!
Our approach blends the structure of mediation, the creativity of education, and the insight of child psychology to create tools children actually enjoy using. Learning mediation skills means learning how to facilitate thoughtful conversations and understand how choices are made—and what makes a choice wise. The process teaches students to integrate psychology, reasoning, emotion, communication, and logic in real time. It’s an inherently interdisciplinary practice, blending law, mindfulness, education, psychology, and communication.
This is what makes mediation skills so powerful: they create a comprehensive learning experience that builds intellectual, emotional, and social intelligence together. Teaching these skills to children gives them the best of what we teach adults, adapted for their stage of growth and understanding. Through stories, creative activities, games, and reflection, they learn to communicate clearly, manage emotions, and approach challenges with confidence and care. Ultimately, learning mediation skills helps students understand themselves and others, and make thoughtful, informed, and inclusive decisions.
Conflict Resolution for Kids was created to meet a simple but powerful need: giving children the tools to handle conflict constructively—before patterns of frustration and misunderstanding take hold.
Many young people struggle to express themselves, listen to others, and resolve disagreements in healthy ways—skills that must be taught, modeled, and practiced. CRK transforms proven conflict-resolution and mediation strategies into engaging, age-appropriate experiences that make problem-solving feel natural and rewarding.
Through stories, creativity, and collaboration, children learn to understand challenges, set goals, and explore options for addressing them—together. What began as a classroom initiative has become a growing movement to make problem-solving part of everyday learning and life, equipping children, families, and educators with practical tools that strengthen relationships and build communities grounded in empathy and understanding.
CRK grew out of the belief that children can learn to manage conflict when they’re given the right tools, language, and support.
The program was founded by Catherine M. Wilhoit, Esq., an attorney, certified mediator, and conflict resolution educator who has spent more than 15 years helping young people, families, and schools build real-world communication skills. Her original curriculum, Addressing Basic Conflict, has been brought to classrooms across South Carolina and beyond—helping educators integrate logic-based thinking, problem-solving skills, and peer mediation principles into daily practice.
Conflict Resolution for Kids expands that model, bringing these proven frameworks to schools, families, and communities through hands-on, visual programs and interactive lessons for students, and professional development courses for adults. The result is a comprehensive framework for teaching communication, empathy, and emotional regulation—skills children carry into every area of life.
Our goal is simple:
To make conflict resolution a skill every child—and every adult guiding them—can learn, use, and pass on.
Conflict Resolution for Kids helps children build the lifelong skills of empathy, communication, and constructive problem-solving.
Rooted in research-based conflict resolution, mediation, and restorative practices, CRK turns complex concepts into experiences that are both meaningful and fun. We meet children where they are and guide them to explore how people communicate—through stories, creative projects, games, and reflection—building confidence, connection, and a sense of belonging along the way.
Using signature frameworks such as The Four Corners of Communication, The Choice Map, and The Simple Mediation Model, students identify the issues that matter most to them and design their own tools and solutions—resources built for students, by students.
Each program provides schools with practical insight into the patterns of conflict on their campuses and leaves educators with actionable, student-centered tools to address them.
CRK also offers training for adults—educators, counselors, administrators, and parents—who want to strengthen their own communication and problem-solving skills, creating more connected classrooms, homes, and communities.
To give children and families practical, developmentally grounded tools to handle conflict, express needs, and build relationships rooted in respect and understanding.
We believe conflict is not something to fear or avoid—it’s an opportunity for learning. With the right support, children can transform everyday disagreements into moments of growth, empathy, and connection.
As our work grows, Conflict Resolution for Kids also aims to study information about the kinds of problems children face at different ages, how those challenges change as they grow, and how they choose to solve them. Our goal is to use this evolving understanding to better anticipate children’s needs and to highlight the creative, compassionate ways they navigate conflict when given the right support.
Every day, children face challenges—on the playground, in the classroom, and at home. Most want to do the right thing, but few have the language or structure to express themselves and resolve problems effectively.
Conflict Resolution for Kids gives them that language—and the confidence to use it.
By helping children and adults approach conflict with empathy and clarity, CRK is shaping a generation of capable, compassionate problem-solvers who make their schools and communities stronger.
We will study insights from children’s real experiences with conflict—what problems arise, when and where they occur, and how children choose to respond. This developing area of our work will help schools and families understand emerging needs more clearly and respond with greater empathy and precision.
By combining practice with reflection, CRK is shaping a generation of capable, compassionate problem-solvers—and laying the groundwork for a deeper, research-informed understanding of how children grow through conflict.
Join Us
Conflict Resolution for Kids is more than a program — it’s a growing community of families, educators, and partners who believe in teaching communication as a life skill.
Your support helps us:
We are here to help children learn to help themselves! Drop us a line anytime.