"Donald Gault is a whole-systems thinker. He moves beyond the surface of issues to find the root cause of our most pressing social problems.  He then inspires and leads both individuals and groups to co-create creative and sustainable solutions."  --Teddie M. Potter, PhD, MS, RN
​Organizational Impact Consulting with
Building Peaceful Community

Founded by Donald Gault, Building Peaceful Community brings over 30 years experience working in the Public Health field, including management of highly effective work teams and cutting edge initiatives to prevent violence and promote community health. 

Building Peaceful Community provides guidance and direction to help organizations develop and implement measurable, tangible goals and objectives to enhance community impact while simultaneously creating more respectful, healthy workplaces and work teams. 

Building Peaceful Community has worked with Major League Baseball, Breaking Free, The Minnesota Boychoir, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and a wide variety of nonprofits and government agencies to develop, implement and measure effectiveness of innovative  strategies designed to increase organizational effectiveness and community impact.  
 
Contact Donald Gault at dosgault@gmail.com​. 
For his resume, click here.
​For his bio, click here.

Primary Prevention and Appreciative Inquiry

The work of Building Peaceful Community is built around the Public Health principle of Primary Prevention, creating environments that decrease the likelihood of violence and harm, and increase the likelihood of peaceful, healthy relationships.

Building Peaceful Community uses an Appreciative Inquiry approach to work toward what we seek (peace and health) rather than focusing solely on what we abhor (violence and illness).

Building Peaceful Community believes that all people have within them essential health, humanity, and the capacity for living in caring and loving relationships.
May 31, 2022, the day after Memorial Day.

Full essay below, and in the Pioneer Press, Weapons of War and Slaughter, June, 4, 2022 (scroll to third letter).

I just got home from dropping off my wife Olivia at Brimhall Elementary School, where she is a volunteer reading tutor, this year working with a group of 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade children.  Each day she returns with stories about the inquisitiveness, joy, and life energy of each of the children she has come to know and care for during their visits.

A week ago today, at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, an 18-year-old boy slaughtered 19 children and two teachers, coming into the school with two “AR15 style” rifles and 375 rounds of ammunition that he had purchased, legally, just days following his 18th birthday.  This followed by just days the slaughter of 10 Black people in a Buffalo, NY, Tops grocery store by another 18-year-old boy, who was motivated by the overtly racist and hateful replacement theory ideology being promoted by many prominent Republican elected officials and “conservative news outlets.”

Since the slaughters at Robb Elementary and the Tops grocery store, I have heard few if any people asking the question, What do we tell our children?, as I believe we have largely run out of answers.   I am a 65-year-old man who has spent my life and career working for and promoting nonviolence and peace, and sadly, here is all I can think of to say at this time, to our children and one another:  Read more

MAJOR PROJECTS

From Ramsey Crisis Nursery to Star House:
Truth is, 2021 was a really rough year for me, as it was for so many. Most all of the work I had been engaged with stopped as a result of the pandemic. One of the most rewarding  experiences of my career however, came about when I met Sarah Ellefson, Anna Lebsock, and Ellen Brokl, the courageous visionaries whose dream is to offer Strength, Time and Resilience to families in the east metro area.   The original name for this work was Ramsey Crisis Nursery, a name they knew did not properly capture their vision. This past summer I had the privilege of working with Sarah, Anna and Ellen and their Board, and facilitated a process resulting in their new name: STAR House.  Learn more about their incredible work and dreams, and new name.
A Public Health Approach to Preventing
​Workplace Sexual Harassment: 
Read the article and workshop and consultation description.
Workshops on Refreshing Your Workplace:
Customized 3-4 hour facilitated discussions to help your workgroup better understand one another's strengths and work more effectively toward common goals
Videos on creating healthier, more peaceful families, communities and workplaces -- developed in partnership with the University of Minnesota Katherine Densford International Center for Nursing Leadership.
Men Breaking Free is a groundbreaking Restorative Justice approach to working with men who have been arrested for attempting to purchase sex from another human being. Men Breaking Free was developed in 2018 through a partnership between Breaking Free, a Saint Paul-based agency that works with women and children who have been trafficked and harmed by the commercial sex industry, and Building Peaceful Community. 

Building Authentic Partnerships to Reduce Sex Trafficking and Heal and Rebuild Lives, Families, and Communities, published in the Spring 2020 issue of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies, tells the story of the multiple partnerships that led to the creation of Men Breaking Free and the powerful impacts of this unique approach on the lives of everyone involved.

Read more on the Breaking Free website breakingfree.net.