From creating an in-house Workplace Mediation training program to building an Alternative Dispute Resolution practice, the Center for Understanding in Conflict has 40 years of experience training thousands of conflict resolution professionals in legal, professional, and practitioner communities built on a revolutionary understanding-based approach to bringing together parties in conflict.

In our gold standard 40-hour Certificate mediation training programs, 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?

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?

These hands-on certificate training programs feature 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. Programs are frequently offered in-person from coast to coast along with online only formats suitable for busy professionals and teams attending from overseas.

Professional Development with National Recognition

All of our 40-hour trainings are certificate programs and are eligible for CLE and MCLE certification in New York and California. Our participants are often sent from large corporations, such as Intel, SAP, and Roche to be certified for workplace mediation programs, as well as from law firms and mediation organizations.

Our Understanding-Based Model, established in 1983, has been recognized by the American Bar Association (who publishes our foundational text Understanding Conflict) and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard School of Law. Center trainers have also used the model in training at Harvard’s Program of Instruction for Lawyers, the Harvard Negotiation Insight Initiative, and the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Find out more information about our history and model.

Learn More About:

Traditional Mediation Training

Workplace Mediation

Professional Development

Looking for a custom program? Our trainers can work with you to design an understanding-based conflict resolution training tailored to meet the unique needs of the community you serve. Contact us to learn how we can support your efforts to bring people together.