September 17–19 and 24–25, 2026 | Online (Zoom)

8:00 AM – 4:30 PM PST | 10:00 AM – 6:30 PM CST | 11:00 AM – 7:30 PM EST

All sessions include breaks throughout the day

To register, scroll to the bottom of this page.

Are you the person others turn to when they are in conflict?

Whether you mediate disputes professionally or want to improve how you support meaningful conversations – in families, workplaces, or communities – this immersive, in-person training will provide you with the essential skills, structure, and confidence to navigate conflict with greater clarity and connection.

What You’ll Learn

Grounded in the Understanding-Based model from Challenging Conflict, this training focuses on:

• Positive Neutrality – supporting all parties without taking sides
• The Loop of Understanding – building empathy and connection through active listening
• Creative Options – crafting solutions that meet deeper needs and interests
• A Foundation for the Future – enabling lasting, self-determined agreements

Who Should Attend?

This training is designed for anyone whose personal or professional life involves guiding others through conflict, whether formally or informally. Our participants consistently report that this program reshapes not only how they approach conflict, but how they understand communication, decision-making, and relationship dynamics. Here’s how this training applies to different professional roles:

Mediators and Conflict Resolution Professionals

Whether you are newly exploring mediation or seeking to deepen your practice, this training offers a hands-on approach that moves beyond traditional tools and techniques. You will learn how to facilitate conversations where parties truly understand each other – often for the first time – and co-create durable, meaningful resolutions.

Lawyers, Collaborative Professionals, and Ombuds

For legal professionals, , this model shifts the focus from advocacy and positioning to understanding and informed choice. You will learn how to support clients in engaging constructively with conflict while still addressing legal realities – without relying on control, pressure, or adversarial dynamics.

Human Resources Leaders, Managers, and Nonprofit Staff

If you are responsible for managing people, teams, or organizational culture, this training provides a vital toolkit for navigating interpersonal tension, staff grievances, and sensitive conversations. The Understanding-Based model helps you foster clarity, empathy, and accountability – leading to more resilient teams and healthier workplace dynamics.

Executive Coaches, Consultants, and Educators

When your work centers on growth, transformation, and leadership, conflict is often just beneath the surface. This training equips you with a new lens and skill set for working with clients or groups who are stuck in disagreement, misalignment, or tension. You will be better prepared to support breakthroughs – whether in strategic planning, coaching conversations, or facilitation work.

Anyone Seeking a More Meaningful Way to Work with Conflict

You do not need to be a professional mediator to benefit from this training. If you are the person people come to when there is tension – in your family, workplace, or community – or if you want to better understand and navigate conflict in your own life, this training offers a practical, compassionate framework that will change how you listen, speak, and relate to others.

Program Format

This online training features a mix of short presentations, live demonstrations, and small group role plays in  full-length practice mediations. You’ll have the chance to practice in a safe, supportive environment with real-time feedback and coaching from experienced trainers.

Schedule Overview

Each day is 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM PST | 10:00 AM – 6:30 PM CST | 11:00 AM – 7:30 PM EST, with breaks throughout the day. Participants are encouraged to log in at 7:50 AM PST to troubleshoot Zoom and settle in to Canvas, our e-learning platform.

About the Center for Understanding in Conflict and Our Model

The Center for Understanding in Conflict (CUC) was founded over four decades ago by Gary Friedman and Jack Himmelstein, who pioneered a radical approach to mediation and conflict resolution. Drawing from their experiences as lawyers, educators, and people impacted by conflict themselves, they developed what is now known as the Understanding-Based model.

This approach challenges the traditional win-lose, adversarial frameworks that dominate many legal and organizational systems. Instead of seeing conflict as something to suppress, manage, or solve through external authority, the Understanding-Based model embraces it as an opportunity for deeper human connection which supports the impulse to work together towards mutually beneficial solutions. .

At its heart, the model is grounded in four core principles:

• Understanding – cultivating deep awareness of oneself, others, and the conflict itself
• Responsibility – inviting parties to take ownership of the process and outcome
• Working Together – choosing dialogue and direct engagement over separation or shuttle diplomacy
• Going Under the Conflict – exploring what lies beneath positions to get to meaning, emotion, and deeper needs

Since the 1980s, thousands of professionals – including mediators, lawyers, coaches, therapists, managers, and community leaders – have trained with the Center. Many have incorporated the Understanding-Based model into their lives and work, transforming not just how they navigate conflict, but how they relate to others and themselves.

This training is a continuation of that legacy. It’s more than just a skills workshop – it’s an invitation to participate in a movement that honors empathy, autonomy, and connection at the center of conflict resolution.

Program Trainers

Ivan Alter is an attorney and mediator with offices in Westchester County, New York, and New York City. Practicing law since 1993, Ivan traded in an early career spent litigating complex commercial matters and high-conflict matrimonial cases in favor of a more rewarding practice using the understanding-based model.

Ivan left the courtroom for good twenty years ago and today empowers his clients to design satisfying resolutions to their conflicts through mediation and collaborative law. He is a graduate of Brandeis University (B.A.), Brooklyn Law School (J.D.), and Columbia University (M.S.). Having participated in countless training programs and symposia, Ivan currently serves on the board of directors for the Center for Understanding in Conflict and the New York Association of Collaborative Professionals.

Marie MacNichol is a mediator and intellectual property attorney with more than 25 years of industry experience in resolving patent, licensing and contract disputes and litigations. She founded her mediation practice to help parties in conflict by providing neutral and impartial conflict resolution services that promote understanding of all issues in a respectful and non-coercive environment. Marie is listed in the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Roster of Mediators.

Melanie Rowen is a mediator and conflict coach who believes in the power of understanding-based conflict resolution to transform our world. She frequently trains individuals and groups on conflict resolution skills with the Center for Understanding in Conflict and in other settings.

Melanie has worked in professional development for many years, including previously as the Associate Director for Public Interest & Public Sector Programs at Berkeley Law and in attorney development at Latham & Watkins LLP. In her law practice career, Melanie litigated civil rights cases, including marriage equality, employment discrimination, issues involving transgender and gender non-conforming youth and their families and issues facing LGBTQI elders, at the National Center for LGBTQ Rights. Melanie’s mediation, coaching and training practice focuses on improving dynamics where ongoing relationships are essential, including workplace teams, family and community organizational settings.

Costs

The program training fee is $1,485

A deposit of $500.00 is necessary to secure registration.

Cancellation Policy

• Cancel 4 or more weeks before: Refund minus $250 fee
• Cancel 2 – 4 weeks before: 50% refund unless your spot is filled
• Less than 2 weeks: No refund unless we find a replacement

Continuing Legal Education

California 

The Center for Understanding in Conflict is an accredited provider of California Continuing Legal Education by the State Bar of California.  The Working Creatively with Conflict Training – appropriate for both newly admitted and experienced attorneys – will qualify for 32 participatory and 8 self-study CA MCLE credit hours.

New York

In New York, The Mediation Intensive Training will fulfill 40 NY CLE credit hours (6.5 Ethics credits; 19.5 Professional Practice credits; and 14 Skills credits).  For continuing legal education purposes, the Mediation Intensive Training is appropriate for both newly admitted and experienced attorneys.

Photo and Video Notice

Photos or videos may be taken for promotional use. If you prefer not to appear in any media, just let us know – we will fully honor your request.

Additional Notes

Registrations received fewer than 72 hours before the program will be accepted at the discretion of the training team due to role-play and logistics needs.

For questions, contact us at [email protected]

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