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Working Creatively with Conflict: 40 Hour Basic Mediation and Conflict Resolution Training (West Coast)

November 6 at 1:30 pm - November 10 at 1:30 pm PST

$500.00 – $2,310.00

November 6 – 10, 2024

The venue requires that participants have completed their COVID-19 vaccinations at least two weeks prior to the start of this program. 

To register, scroll to the bottom of this page.

Are you responsible for helping people work through conflict?

Do you manage important conversations between clients, employees, team members, volunteers or other people?

Do you want to improve your ability to facilitate conversations of consequence?

Do you want to learn to mediate or enhance your conflict resolution skills?

In this gold standard mediation training, learn how to support parties working through conflict or engaging in other important conversations in a different way.  Our Understanding-Based model focuses on guiding parties to make knowing and informed choices together in a  respectful manner.  Highlights of our basic training, Working Creatively with Conflict, include:

  • Positive neutrality –supporting all parties without taking sides
  • The Loop of Understanding – enhancing understanding and empathy
  • Creative Options — innovating to meet differing needs and interests
  • A Foundation for the Future — building the groundwork for the parties to make effective and lasting decisions together now and in the future

Who Will Benefit From This Training?

Our participants include mediators, lawyers, collaborative professionals, business consultants, executive coaches, managers and supervisors, human resources professionals, ombuds-people, non-profit staff, and other people whose work will be enhanced by  increased skills in conflict resolution.  Participants report it is one of the top mediation programs they have taken.

What is the Format of the Training?

This hands-on in person training features briefings on the core skills of the Understanding Based Approach, followed by lively demonstrations and role-plays, all of which immerse participants in the learning. Realistic simulations, in which participants work through mediations from beginning to end, with coaching from our teachers, offer participants the chance to hone their skills and experience the emotional challenges faced by parties in dispute. Participants describe these different modes of learning and their interplay as enjoyable as they are engaging and rewarding.

Who are the Trainers?

Gary J. Friedman has been practicing law as a mediator with Mediation Law Offices in Mill Valley, California since 1976, integrating mediative principles into the practice of law and the resolution of legal disputes. Co-founder of the Center for Understanding in Conflict (formerly the Center for Mediation in Law), he has been teaching mediation since 1980. Prior to his work as a mediator, he practiced law as a trial lawyer with Friedman and Friedman in Bridgeport, Connecticut. After several years as an advocate, he sought a new approach to resolving disputes through increasing the participation of the parties in the resolution of their differences. At that time, he and his colleague, Jack Himmelstein, began to develop the Understanding-based model that is now practiced extensively in the United States and Europe. As one of the first lawyer mediators and a primary force in the current mediation movement, he has used this model to complete over one thousand mediations in the last two decades He has mediated numerous two-party and multi-party disputes in the commercial and non-profit realms, in the area of intellectual property, real estate, corporate, personnel, partnership formations and dissolutions, and family law.

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 effective communication in conflict situations and on creating inclusive environments, particularly around gender, sexual orientation, and disability. Melanie previously litigated civil rights cases, including marriage equality, employment discrimination, issues involving transgender and gender non-conforming youth and their families, and issues facing LGBTQ+ elders, at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and served on the Board of Directors of the Transgender Law Center. Earlier in her career, she worked in business litigation at Latham & Watkins LLP, and for many years, she was the Associate Director for Public Interest Programs at UC Berkeley School of Law. Melanie currently works in attorney professional development at the Bay Area offices of a large law firm, and is a member of the Board of Directors for the National Association for Law Placement.

 

Michelle Exline Minovi is a highly skilled divorce and family mediator with 12+ years family law experience.  As Managing Attorney at the legal services non-profit Ayuda in Washington, D.C., Michelle represented low-income and Spanish-speaking immigrant clients in complex matrimonial cases in the context of domestic violence. After moving to Brooklyn, Michelle litigated and won sole custody on behalf of a mother of two children who was forced to leave the ultra-orthodox community because she identified as queer. After three years of intense litigation, Michelle wondered if there was an alternative way to divorce. Michelle knew she had to pivot from litigation to mediation when she took her first mediation training at the Center for Understanding Conflict.

 

Registration and program schedule

Registration is between 1:45 and 2:15 on Wednesday, November 6, 2024, with the training beginning at 2:30 pm and running through 9:00 pm. Note that rooms may not be available to put luggage in until 3PM. On Thursday and Friday, the sessions run from 9am – 9 pm (with ample breaks for meals and rest). On Saturday, the session runs 9am – 6pm. The program ends on Sunday, November 10, 2024 with a session from 9am – 12:15pm.

Venue

The training is at Green Gulch Farm, a Zen Center and working farm in Muir Beach, CA. The accommodations at Green Gulch are very unique and set in a beautiful, rustic location. Most participants stay in the Japanese-inspired Guest House.  The gardens are lovely and the delicious vegetarian fare is served in a country style in a health conscious atmosphere.  Three delicious vegetarian meals a day are provided, as well as all-day coffee, tea, and snack service.  There is wireless internet available, but most cell phones do not have reception in Green Gulch proper.  Guests have access to an office phone for emergencies.  Participants should plan ahead for contact through the internet rather than by phone.

Costs

The program training fee is $1,485 plus a fee for the facility, lodging, and meals as follows:

  • Private room* at Green Gulch:  $825, for a total of $2,310
  • Shared double room at Green Gulch:  $675, for a total of $2,160
  • Commuter for those not staying at Green Gulch:  $325, for a total of $1,810

Please note that the bathrooms are shared at Green Gulch. You can find more details about accommodation at Green Gulch by clicking here.

A 5 – 10% discount on the registration fee is available for our CUC Connect members. Click here for more information.

A deposit of $500.00 is necessary to secure registration.

*There are a limited number of private rooms.  After the available private rooms are reserved, we assign shared rooms.

COVID-19 Protocols

As of March 2022, Green Gulch has stipulated the following COVID-19 guidelines:

  • Proof of full vaccination is required to come to Green Gulch
  • Indoor mask protocol is subject to county guidelines.
  • Guests will be asked to only use the indoor spaces and bathrooms assigned to their group.
  • Meals will be served separately from residents and enjoyed either outdoors, in the meeting space, or in the private dining room.
  • Upon arrival, participants will need to provide a negative COVID test, PCR or Lucira, taken within 24-48 hours of the start of the program. At home rapid tests are acceptable only to retest on the third day or in the mornings (for commuters).

Please note that these are subject to change and we will notify participants of any changes in protocols.

Cancellation Policy

Please note our cancellation policy: If you cancel 4 weeks or more prior to the program, we return your deposit minus a $250.00 administration fee. Between 4 and 2 weeks prior to the program, we retain 50% of the total cost of the program unless we are able to find a replacement for your seat, in which case we will refund the fee minus the $250.00 administration fee. There are no refunds for cancellations less than two weeks prior to the program unless we can find a replacement.

Is there Continuing Education Credit?

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 MCLE 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.

The Center’s in-person and online training has been approved under Part 146 by the New York State Unified Court System’s Office of ADR Programs. (Please note that final placement on any court roster is at the discretion of the local Administrative Judge and participation in a course that is either approved or pending approval does not guarantee placement on a local court roster.)

 

For additional information, please email us at [email protected].

 

*Please select desired ticket and quantity using the +/- feature before clicking ‘Get Tickets.’

Details

Start:
November 6 at 1:30 pm PST
End:
November 10 at 1:30 pm PST
Cost:
$500.00 – $2,310.00
Event Categories:
, ,

Organizer

Center for Understanding in Conflict

Venue

Green Gulch Farm
1601 Shoreline Highway
Muir Beach, CA 94965 United States
+ Google Map
Phone
415-383-3134
View Venue Website

Tickets

The numbers below include tickets for this event already in your cart. Clicking "Get Tickets" will allow you to edit any existing attendee information as well as change ticket quantities.
MIT WC Nov-2024 // Training with private room
Registration Fee - $1,485 Private Accommodation - $825
$ 2,310.00
11 available
MIT WC Nov-2024 // Private Room Deposit
Make a $500 deposit and pay for the remaining fee $1,810 later.
$ 500.00
10 available
MIT WC Nov-2024 // Training with Shared Room
Registration Fee - $1,485 Shared Accommodation - $675
$ 2,160.00
8 available
MIT WC Nov-2024 // Shared Room Deposit
Make a $500 deposit and pay for the remaining fee $1,660 later.
$ 500.00
8 available
MIT WC Nov-2024 // Training for Commuter
Registration fee - $1,485 Commuter fee - $325
$ 1,810.00
5 available
MIT WC Nov-2024 // Deposit for Commuter
Make a $500 deposit and pay for the remaining fee $1,310 later.
$ 500.00
5 available