WELCOME TO THE CUC CONNECT TRAINING LIBRARY
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Live Webinar Recording – September, 2026
When parties in conflict shut down, attack, or dig in their heels, it is rarely an act of ill intent but rather it is a defensive response to perceived threat, loss of autonomy, or unacknowledged needs. Traditional approaches often attempt to bypass or override this resistance, but the Understanding-Based Model offers a more transformative path: going through it.
In this 60-minute webinar, conflict professionals will learn how to identify subtle, non-verbal, and verbal indicators of self-protection and turn those moments into breakthroughs. Grounded in the principle that the parties closest to the conflict are best equipped to resolve it, this session focuses on using active self-awareness and core understanding-based tools to address resistance at its root.
Presenters Alison Beck, Kathy Campbell and Stephanie Tobosa-Smit will cover noticing defensiveness, tools for working through resistance, and demonstrate practical applications.
You are always welcome to reach out with questions about practice, process, community engagement, or anything really and we will do our best to support you: [email protected]
Looking to dive deeper in the model, join us for the online 40-hour conflict resolution and mediation training this November!
The Other Chair Podcast
Looking for program recordings with Zen teacher Norman Fischer? Click the button below to visit the recording library.
Understanding-Based Fundamentals
Why Bringing People in Conflict Together Works
Developing and Framing Interests
Looping
The 6 Underlying Concepts
Going Down the Why Trail
The Power of Looping in Conflict Resolution
The Driving Force: Unpacking Motivations
Looping the Dynamic
Beyond the Argument: Three Levels to Unlock Real Resolution
Below the Surface: Reading the Unspoken in Conflict
Back to Basics: Parties Understanding Each Other
Inner Work
Inside Out: Self Reflection For Conflict Professionals
Inside Out: The Relationship between Inner and Outer
Being Yourself in the Room
Nine Practices to Change Your Awareness and Presence
Internal Experience: Understanding Ourselves to Authentically Connect Clients to Each Other
Harnessing Inner Awareness for Meaningful Conversations
When it Hits Home: Maintaining Presence and Managing Reactivity in Conflict
In the Mediation Room
Preparing Parties for Mediation
Structuring the Process
Brainstorming and Evaluating Options
Judgments and Curiosity
Working in the Same Room and Dealing with a Request for Caucus
Mediator Advice: Is It Ever Appropriate?
Conflict Resolution Professionals: What to Do When You Are Stuck
Risky Moves: What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do
Dealing with External Forces
Parties Understanding Each Other
I Knew What Would Happen
How Can Contracting Take a Whole Session?
Interest-Based Negotiation: Exploring Interests to Identify Opportunities for Compromise
Why We Don’t Tell People What to Do
Shifting Focus: All About Interests
Assessing the Ability to Participate in Mediation
When Progress Stops: Navigating Impasse in Conflict Resolution
Beyond the Shield: Working Through Resistance with Understanding
People and Personality
4 Things To Do When Emotions Flare
Emotions
Culture and Conflict Engagement
Gender and Conflict
Conflict Styles and Patterns
Real Talk
Being an Anti-racist Conflict Professional
Conflict through Race and Culture Lenses
Trauma and Conflict
The Bully
Intimate Partner Violence and Consensual Dispute Resolution
Disability Inclusion and Accessibility in Conflict Resolution
Interfering Influencers—What to Do About Them?
Climate of Conflict: Common Ground to Constructive Conversation in an Increasingly Divided World
Starting at Sorry: Apology to Accountability on the Path of Forgiveness
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
Neutrality and Objectivity
Power: Understanding or Coercion?
Power Imbalance: The Power of Personality and Patterns
Power Imbalance: The Power of Possessing
Power Imbalance: The Power of Position
Power Imbalance: Putting it all Together
Positive Neutrality
The End Game – How to Move to An Agreement
Endgame: Questions & Issues
The Storm Out: What to Do When It Happens
Working with Ground Rules
6 Underlying Concepts: Refining the Process
Messy Conflict: Transforming Toxic Disputes
Ask Gary: An Open Conversation About Understanding-Based Conflict Resolution
Legal Consideration
3 Mistakes Lawyers Make that Keep Them (and Their Clients) Stuck in Conflict
Why Bring in the Law and How to Do It
When Lawyers Are In The Room
When Lawyers Are in the Room 2
Untying the Knot: Making Sense of Divorce Mediation
Webinar Effective Mediation in Small Claims Court
Working with Lawyers in the Room – Part 1 (2025)
Working with Lawyers in the Room – Part 2 (2025)
Beneath the Conflict: Civility through Understanding Tension, Emotion, and Bias
Deepening Connection in Conflict Work: Noticing and Unpacking Implicit Bias
In the Workplace
Taking the Plunge: How to Bring the Understanding Based Model Into Your Work
Finding Value in Conflict: Navigating Workplace Mediation
Conflict Resolution Through Workplace Mediation
Organizational Response: Avoid Exacerbating Conflict
Conflict Coaching: Practices and Principles
Conflict Coaching: Unlocking Solutions Through ADR
Constructive Conversations: Understanding-Based Workplace Applications
Beyond the Heat: Practical De-escalation Skills for Work and Life
From Conflict to Collaboration: Workplace Mediation Lessons That Apply Everywhere
Practical Tools
The Business Side of Mediation
Top Tips for Starting an ADR Practice
Moving Mediation Online
Virtual Mediation Revisited
Spirit of Collaboration: Starting and Managing a Peer Group
Getting Started: Building an ADR Practice
Managing Conflicts of Interest in Conflict Resolution Practice
5 Things I Did to Build My Practice and 5 Things I Wish I Had Done
Beyond the Argument: Three Levels to Unlock Real Resolution