Whitefish resident Brian Muldoon has had enough with social violence and is hoping to shift perspectives at least on a local scale through a fledgling project called the Campaign Against Violence.

“For myself, I was at the tipping point where I was being made sick by the amount of violence I see. As a society I think everyone is sick of it,” said Muldoon, a mediator, attorney and author of “The Heart of Conflict.”

“I see so many cases of domestic violence and assault by parents of kids,” Muldoon said adding that although he doesn’t have firsthand involvement with school bullying, he is well aware of its existence.

Through the Campaign Against Violence, Muldoon and co-chairwoman Joan Vetter Ehrenberg are working to assemble a coalition of schools and organizations throughout the Flathead Valley to keep a spotlight on the issue of violence and get a conversation going.

“Our mission is to promote awareness of violence in our community, to facilitate public conversations about the impact of violence, and to offer some field-tested strategies for making our community safer for everyone,” Muldoon wrote in a statement about the initiative at www.campaignagainstviolence.com.

The first event organized by the Campaign Against Violence is a public forum Monday from 1 to 3 p.m. at Whitefish Lake Lodge.

Discussion topics will include the root causes of violence, how violence affects children, bullying and finding ways to prevent conflict. Muldoon and Vetter Ehrenberg are hoping to draw parents, youths, teachers and community members to the event.

Speakers include Whitefish School District Superintendent Heather Davis Schmidt, Flathead Valley Community College Psychology Professor Ivan Lorentzen, Flathead Valley Community College Assistant Professor of Sociology Ami Mezahav and Marlene Snyder, former director of development for the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program used in local school district and schools throughout the United States.

“This will be a highly interactive event. In addition to our speakers, we will have facilitated small-group discussions and find out if there are ways we as a community can pull together to address these issues,” Muldoon said.

Future public forums are planned on topics such as domestic violence and familial violence.

“I expect this to be a long-term project,” Muldoon said.

For more information or to register, visit www.campaignagainstviolence.com or call 862-4942.