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June 23 – 28, 2024

Milanville, PA

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Join the Center for Understanding in Conflict for a comprehensive 24-hour Basic Mediation Training covering basic theory and skills of understanding-based mediation in a dynamic and engaging learning environment.

This certificate program teaches individuals the basic theories and practical skills needed to help people in conflict. Participants will learn to deescalate unproductive arguments and conflict dynamics and guide parties and lawyers involved toward positive discussions and effective decision-making. The training also covers how law and lawyers play a part in mediation, preparing participants to mediate conflicts in various settings including private contexts, court-referred cases, and community disputes.

Upon completing this training, participants will have completed the basic mediation requirement for part 146 and be eligible for Advanced Mediation training and continuing education programs, including the 16-hour Advanced Matrimonial Mediation Training course June 26-28, 2025. Together these two programs qualify participants for a 40-hour completion certificate.

Our trainers have designed this program to benefit those practicing in New York. However, it is appropriate and applicable for professionals of all disciplines, including jurists, 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.

Core Concepts

In this 40-hour program, adapted from our gold standard mediation training, you will 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 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.
• Teach participants relevant New York State matrimonial and family law.
• Teach advanced skills helpful to mediate divorces and family cases effectively rooted in the understanding-based model.
• Qualifies as an advanced mediation course approved under Part 146.4(b)(2) of the Rules of the Chief Administrative Judge of New York State.
• Provide 43 hours of NYS CLE credits.

What is the Format of this Training?

Participants will learn matrimonial law and the core skills of the Understanding Based Approach, through lively demonstrations and role-plays, all of which immerse participants in the learning. Realistic simulations, in which participants work through mediations 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 engaging and rewarding.

Logistics

The training begins on the afternoon of Monday, June 23, 2025, at 3:00 pm through 8:00 pm. Tuesday thru Friday, the sessions run 9:00 am through 8:00 pm, with ample breaks for meals and rest. The program ends on Saturday, June 28, 2025, with a session from 9:00am – 12:00pm. All participants will enjoy delicious meals during all sessions.

Who Can Participate?

This basic training is open to anyone whose work involves conflict and will be particularly interesting to lawyers who wish to apply to be on the mediator court rosters for divorce and family work.

Venue

Highlights Foundation Retreat Center, 392 Boyds Mills Road, Milanville, PA 18443, (570) 253-1192

The Highlights Foundation Retreat Center is located in Northeastern Pennsylvania, on the traditional lands of the Lenape Nation. The property is tucked in the foothills of the Pocono Mountains, situated a couple of hours away from both NYC and Philadelphia.  It is rich in family and Highlights history, and it’s a wonderful place that feeds the mind, body, and creative souls of those who visit.

The Highlights Foundation still calls the Barn & Retreat Center at Boyds Mills home, but has expanded use of the grounds in order to support the organization’s goals. 

Cost

The program training fee is $1890 plus a fee for the facility, lodging, and meals as follows. Note that all rooms contain a private bathroom.

Private room: $1340 for a total of $3,230.

Shared double room: $940 for a total of $2,830.

Commuter for those not staying at Highlights:  $840, for a total of $2,730.

*Financial aid may be available for training fees.  Please contact us at [email protected] for details or for any questions regarding logistics.

Who Are the Trainers?

Antoinette Delruelle has been a mediator since 2009 and an attorney since 1994. Before starting the Mediation Project at the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) in 2013, she represented survivors of domestic violence in divorces and family cases for eighteen years and has taught mediation to legal services attorneys and NYS court staff and mediates divorces, parenting, and child permanency cases for New York City’s five borough courts. Antoinette was president of the Family and Divorce Mediation Council of Greater New York from 2014 to2016 and is on the Center for Understanding in Conflict board. She is a member of the statewide ADR Advisory Committee formed by former Chief Judge DiFiore in April 2018 to give recommendations on how to increase the use of ADR in the NYS court system.

Katherine Eisold Miller is an attorney practicing mediation and collaborative practice in Westchester County, NY. She has been practicing family law since 1987, first as a litigator and now exclusively outside the court system. She has taught family law at the White Institute and NYU as well as with the Center and lectures regularly on mediation and collaborative practice. She is a Board member of the New York Association of Collaborative Professionals.

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.

Is there Continuing Education Credit?

New York

In New York, The Mediation Intensive Training will fulfill 43 NY CLE credit hours (5 Ethics credits; 23 Professional Practice credits; and 15 Skills credits).  For continuing legal education purposes, the Mediation Intensive Training is appropriate for both newly admitted and experienced attorneys.

New York CLE Approved for both newly admitted and experienced attorneys.
42 CLE Hours (include 4 Ethics). Approved under Part 146 by the NYS Unified Court System’s Office of ADR Programs.  This course meets the 24-hour requirement for Initial Mediation Training.*

This in-person training has been approved as a 24H basic mediation training and as a 16H advanced matrimonial training 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.)

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.

For additional information, please email us at [email protected] or call us at (844) 242-3428.

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^[1] Final placement on any court roster is at the discretion of the local Administrative Judge and participation in a course that is approved does not guarantee placement on a local court roster.  Pursuant to Part 146, court-based mediation rosters require both a combination of mediation training and experience mediating.  Acceptance on court rosters depends on a court’s need for mediators at any given time and may include a court’s need for mediators with specific case-type training or experience and mediation experience.

Photo and Video Notice

We’re excited to have you at our training event! Please note that we may be taking photos and videos to capture the wonderful moments and share them in our promotional materials, including social media, websites, and brochures. If you prefer not to be photographed or recorded, just let one of our friendly organizers or trainers know. We’ll be happy to respect your wishes and ensure your privacy.

PLEASE NOTE THAT REGISTRATIONS RECEIVED LESS THAN 72 HOURS PRIOR TO PROGRAM START WILL BE ACCEPTED AT THE DISCRETION OF THE TRAINING TEAM DUE TO DEMANDS OF PREPARATION TIME AND ROLE PLAY ASSIGNMENTS.

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

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