November 5-9, 2025 | Green Gulch Farm, Muir Beach, CA

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 in-person 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

• Wednesday, Nov 5: Check-in is 1:45 – 2:15 pm; training begins 2:30 pm and runs until 9:00 pm
• Thursday – Friday, Nov 6 – 7: Full-day sessions, 9:00 am – 9:00 pm (with ample breaks)
• Saturday, Nov 8: 9:00 am-6:00 pm
• Sunday, Nov 9: 9:00 am-12:15 pm

Note: Lodging check-in may not be available until 3:00pm Wednesday.

Venue

Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in Muir Beach, CA, is a tranquil retreat space nestled among coastal hills. Accommodations are simple and beautiful, with Japanese-inspired guest rooms and shared bathrooms. Three nourishing vegetarian meals per day are provided, along with snacks, coffee, and tea. WIFI is available, but cell service is limited.

Participants must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 at least two weeks prior to the program.

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 whichsupports 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.

Trainers

Catherine Conner has been a mediation and collaborative practice trainer since 2004. She is a frequent presenter at collaborative conferences and family law workshops. She authored Collaborative Practice Materials with Steven Neustadter and Margaret Anderson. Catherine Conner’s private practice focuses on family law alternate dispute resolution, including mediation, collaborative practice, and private judging. She graduated from the UC Berkeley School of Law in 1982 and is a founding partner of Conner, Lawrence, Rodney, Olhiser & Barrett, LLP. In 1992, Catherine became a Certified Family Law Specialist.  She has been honored as the recipient of the Rex Sater Award for Excellence in Family Law, the Eureka award by Collaborative Practice California and was the 2018 honoree for Careers of Distinction.  She was on the Board of Directors of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals from 2007-2014 and served as the President in 2013.

Caitlin Meredith, MPH, MA, is a mediator, coach and conflict skills trainer who works with individuals, organizations and families navigating transitions and conflict. Her curiosity about conflict led to 13 years with Doctors Without Borders in war zones in sub-Saharan Africa, and then to consulting in the criminal justice system. After working in the aftermath of big conflicts, she decided to learn more about preventing and working through disagreements through courageous conversations. This curiosity led her to the Center for Understanding in Conflict. In addition to her private practice, Caitlin volunteers her time as a mediator for community and court-based mediation programs in Colorado and California. She also teaches Core Mediation and Negotiation classes at the Monterey College of Law and co-hosts a podcast about women’s financial literacy. In all of her endeavors, Caitlin finds honest, clear and vulnerable communication to be the key ingredient for creating meaningful connections in our lives. Also, humor.

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 deposit of $500.00 is necessary to secure registration.

COVID-19 Protocols

Green Gulch requires:

• A negative rapid antigen test within 24 hours of arrival
• A second rapid test upon arrival (bring your own)
• Masks are optional

Protocols may change; participants will be notified of updates.

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]

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