Barefoot Dialogue is a vulnerability-based model of structured conversations, sustained over time, with peers who openly engage, seek meaning over agreement, and enhance their capacity to thrive in human and land relating across difference and within shared identities.

Curious? Consider enrolling for the Fall Dialogue Season!

Each dialogue group meets every other week over a homemade dinner, over the course of the semester.

Here's what past participants have to say...

"A place to hold space for our uncertainties, thoughts, and fears without the pressure of being held to every word."

“Barefoot, since the beginning of this school year, has been a place for me to breathe…Barefoot made me feel, for the first time since I had gotten to Oberlin, that I was inherently at home in myself.”

“It's an intense self-examination, but I also always end up laughing at some point during the dialogue. It's a chance to hold everything, at once, and not be conflicted over it all. Instead, to just sit with it.”

“It’s hard for me—even with my closest friends—to have these conversations in my daily life.”

"Now I feel like I have new tools."

You can return to this form and update your entry as your availability evolves. 

For any questions, email Lucas Burns, Barefoot Coordinator at lburns@oberlin.edu. Excerpts from recent annual reports citing student experiences.