OUR WORKSHOPS AND TRAININGS
TRAININGS:
- Mediating Interpersonal Conflict (MIC) [32-40 hours]: This training is an intensive, participatory introduction to the mediation process, including material on conflict theory, non-violent communication, conflict resolution styles, power imbalances, and conflict resolution agreements. The objective of the training is to create skilled mediators who are ready to do community-based mediations in all types of settings, including family, spousal, neighbor, landlord-tenant, and the workplace. Each participant practices their mediation skills in multiple full-length role-plays. Participants learn through coaching, not through criticism. At the end a participant will qualify for an ECR Mediation Certificate qualifying them to be a community mediator.
Target Audience: Any person who would like to become a trained, ECR-Certified, Community Mediator or who wants to acquire and develop these valuable skills to use in their own personal life situations. *The MIC training certificate earned in this training qualifies participants to be a mediator for most community and interpersonal disputes as outlined in the training description above.Training Cost: $600 + $60 for the training manual
- School Attendance Mediation (SAM) Mediator Training [15 hours]: This training is an intensive, participatory introduction to the School Attendance Mediation, or SAM program, which prepares participants to be SAM Mediators and coaches them on how to initiate and administer a SAM intervention program for their own community public school systems. The focus is on providing mediations to families and their students who have exhibited a chronic pattern of absenteeism. The training introduces conflict resolution theory and teaches the techniques for conducting an effective and productive SAM mediation which gets students back to school and learning. The emphasis is on changing student behavior through non-punitive measures. The training provides simulated learning experiences by including a mediation role-play day with positive, non-critical coaching designed to improve the participant’s skills in an non-intimidating environment.
Target Audience: Community volunteers, former educators, retired persons, and youth workers who wish to become an ECR-Certified SAM Mediator and help initiate and develop a SAM Program in their communities.
Includes: A digital and hard-copy manual, additional instructional handouts, and an ECR SAM Mediator Certificate (awarded upon completion of the training.) Participants must attend all four sessions to receive the official certification.
Format: Involves a mix of three, 2.5-hour evening Zoom Sessions & one in-person 7.5-hour role-play day conducted on the Manchester University Campus.
Cost: $450 ($400 per person if a county sends 4 or more participants)
- Tailor-Designed Training [hours vary]: training designed to fit the specific needs of a business or organization.
- Productive Communication and Conflict [4 hours]: Communication lies at the heart of all personal interactions, whether in the family, friendships, the workplace, or the public sphere. More than ever before, people need to learn to work together in a collaborative style and to make smarter team decisions both on and off the job. The success and satisfaction of daily transactions often depend on the effectiveness with which communication is conducted. Poor listening and speaking skills are major contributors to misunderstandings between people: they also make it difficult to cope with conflict productively, once it arises.
The focus of this workshop is to provide participants with increased knowledge about the key communication skills and to improve these skills through guided practice in the workshop setting. In addition, participants will gain insight and understanding into their own personal style of communication and a greater awareness of the communication styles of others. The ultimate objective of this workshop is to enable participants to experience productive outcomes in their personal interactions. This, in turn, promotes collaborative problem solving and productive communication even when there are conflicts.Target Audience:
- Persons interested in improving communication with peers, colleagues, and spouses.
- Students living in residence halls,
- Seniors living in retirement communities.
Cost: $250 per participant + $50 Manual = $300 - Conflict in the Workplace [2 - 3 hours]: Conflict is a normal part of the process of working together. The focus of this workshop is to teach participants an understanding of the conflict process and the principles of healthy conflict resolution that we can apply to our places of employment. For many people conflicts at work are a source of deep anxiety because they not only impact our livelihood but they also throw into question our sense of worth and general competence. For Americans, their work/jobs are their source of security so that when we are feeling threatened on the job, we get defensive and sometimes hostile in our efforts to protect our core needs, and it can bring out the worst in us. Content of this workshop includes understanding the elements of conflict, individual responses to conflict, effective communication, ways to approach a work colleague about a conflict, basic steps for resolving conflict, and effective approaches to problem solving differences on the worksite. Workshop participants will learn how to be assertive in addressing conflictive job issues in a timely manner in order to avoid allowing these differences to turn into major problems. Workshop participants will learn through a variety of hands-on exercises and role playing scenarios.
Target Audience:- Employees–Persons interested in improving communication with peers and colleagues in the workplace.
- Employers
- Managers
- Human Resources professionals
Cost: $250 per participant - Parenting the Teen Brain [3 hours]: The teenage years can be a challenging emotional rollercoaster for young people as well as the adults in their lives. Risk taking behaviors, pushing boundaries, and lack of impulse control are behaviors that most families experience. For millennia these have been considered simply as teenagers’ bad behaviors or rebellion, but nowadays we know they are just a consequence of a normal and essential part of teen brain development.
Brain research and scientific and technological advances in the last 10-15 years have enabled scientists, psychiatrists and psychologists to do more detailed studies of the brain. They’ve shown that from puberty until the early to mid-twenties, young people’s brains undergo significant structural and functional changes that account for their behaviors. This research reveals that “the adolescent brain isn’t a dysfunctional or defective adult brain; it is the result of a formative and essential period of development to reach adulthood.”
The objective of this workshop is to provide participants with knowledge about the teen brain and its various stages of development and to bring insight into the physiological and functional changes in the teen brain that motivates their actions and explains their behavior. The focus will be on providing tips for coping with teen brain development and the sometimes dramatic changes in behavior we see in our young people. Workshop participants will gain experience in dealing with teen behaviors through guided role play scenarios and will walk away with materials and tools that will make both parents and teens better able to survive and thrive during the “terrible teen” years.
Target Audience:
- Parents
- Grandparents
- Teachers
- Youth Workers
Cost: $350 per participant
WORKSHOPS:
The art of communication calls us to actively listen to one another and to respectfully respond. The focal point of our workshops pivots around the central point of how to effectively communicate with others through both our ability to listen and empathically respond.