With the hope of providing services that support wholeness and wellbeing for individuals, communities, and institutional systems, Stephanie Hixon seeks to integrate best practices in alternative dispute resolution with principles of faith and spirituality, communication theory and creative organic group processes.

Earning degrees in Music Therapy and Music Education from Shenandoah College and Conservatory of Music (Shenandoah University), she later pursued theological coursework through the Washington, DC consortium of schools, earning a Master of Divinity from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg.

Her professional certification in Alternative Dispute Resolution was granted by Hamline University School of Law. She is an ordained elder in the Susquehanna Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and served congregations in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Stephanie also served as a member of the general secretariat for The General Commission on the Status and Role of Women in the United Methodist Church providing leadership as an advocate for a diverse constituency of women within the Church. During her tenure as general secretary she offered expertise and support for the Church’s response to sexual harassment, abuse and misconduct.

Stephanie is a trained consultant and facilitator in severely conflicted situations and has extensive experience with strategies and processes to assist institutions and communities to foster environments of mutual respect and regard for all persons. Serving as Executive Director for JustPeace Center for Mediation and Conflict Transformation in The United Methodist Church provides an opportunity for Stephanie to embrace her passion for justice, peacemaking and conflict transformation. In addition to training, teaching and consulting, she has facilitated mediations and circles of accountability and healing within the Church. Along with her colleagues, she believes that local churches can be centers of relational healing and peacebuilding for their members as well as the neighborhoods in which they reside.