• The African Union summit in Addis Ababa ended in deadlock after the group failed to chose a new chairman for the executive commission. A new election was then scheduled to be held in June or July, though they managed to elect President Boni Yayi of Benin as the new…

Won't Leak in Flight!

• A new UN report warns that there soon won’t be enough food, water or energy to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population. The world will reportedly need at least 50% more food, 45% more energy and 30% more water.
• The Fellowship of Reconciliation and Uniting for Peace…

The proverbial elephant that appears in the room when we are in conflict isn’t always as big as an elephant. It may be more like a mouse. However, a mouse is no less problematic when it scurries around and inserts itself in small places, like the crevices of our hearts and brains.

Elephants and mice represent the unspoken hurts or words. They are what is going on between disputing people that isn’t being said. They are the lingering doubts and the niggling feelings. They are…

There is a misperception that transformative mediation doesn’t settle cases as often as other mediation approaches do. That misperception arises because of the tendency of transformative mediators to focus on benefits other than settlement, and because of the lack of research that shows the settlement rates of other approaches.

Transformative mediation’s success has indeed been based largely on factors besides settlement rates. The US Postal Service (which has the world’s largest…

Originally posted on the BC Distance Family Mediation Blog

Today, we warmly welcome Colleen Getz — evaluator for the previous phase of our…

The ISCT offers the most meaningful mediator certification there is. The following article was written by Jim Antes, who helped develop the assessment process and who wrote Chapter 4 in Transformative Mediation: A Sourcebook “Assessing Transformative Practice: Methods and Approaches”. Here he explains how the process, in addition to ensuring that only highly skilled mediators are certified, enhances the…

Registration is now open for the Seventh Annual Conference of the International Ombudsman Association on April 13–18, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency in Houston, Texas. Special pricing is being offered for attendees who also register for Ombuds 101. Priority registration closes on March 23. IOA has also posted an expected agenda for the conference.…

JAMS, the largest private provider of mediation and arbitration services worldwide, today announced the addition of Hon. J.D. Smith (Ret.) to its panel. Judge Smith will be based in the JAMS Atlanta Resolution Center. He will serve as an arbitrator, mediator and special master for disputes in a variety of areas including Administrative Law, Appellate, Employment, Insurance, Personal Injury/Torts, Professional Liability and Real Property.

Judge Smith served in the Georgia…

What happens to many of us in the heat of an argument, is that we don’t consider the aftermath. One of the consequences of our actions and words or those of the other person is that we cannot easily undo what hurt we experience or caused. Emotions can linger and the pieces that are not reconciled, end up being the remnants in which we clothe our next dispute.

Thinking before we speak is sage advice that is likely said more than it is practiced. If more of us caught ourselves…

Listen NOW by hitting the player at the bottom of this page.

For over two years, my non-profit has trained counselors in Rwanda in narrative psychology, for the sake of Rwanda's newest generation. So far we have collected and publicly archived 100 intergenerational dialogues between young adults and their elders, and our evaluations suggest this has been very…

Like many fathers 'raising' a teenage daughter in the new millenium, I find that I remember by heart an improbable number of lines from book series such as Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, or the Twilight saga, even though I find myself unable to recall other little facts and details, such as the precise names and order of birth of my own children, at least not all at the same time.…

(originally published at dialogicmediation.com)

Distinguished educator and mediator, Tammy Lenski, is celebrating the tenth anniversary of her blog, Conflict Zen.  As part of that celebration, she wants to highlight some of her favourite…

Mediator – Know Thyself! (Part I)…

Originally published on the BC Distance Family Mediation blog

In last week's post,…

Originally posted on the BC Distance Family Mediation blog

Today's post is the first in a two-part series on mediator competence and self-awareness. It is our good fortune to have guest blogger,…

Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Hon. John C. Cratsley (Ret.) Joins JAMS

January 23, 2012

Boston – JAMS, the largest private provider of mediation and arbitration services worldwide, today announced the addition of Hon. John C. Cratsley (Ret.) to its panel. Judge Cratsley will be based in the JAMS Boston Resolution Center. He will serve as an arbitrator, mediator and special master for disputes in a variety of areas including…

The expression thinking ‘outside of the box’ typically relates to being creative about ideas – like stepping outside of enclosed lines that constrain thinking. When the concept comes up in the conflict management context, it occurs when people in dispute are contemplating the options available to them regarding their opposing views. The ‘out of the box’ notion is meant to help disputants get away from steadfastly held positions and consider what other solutions may be mutually…

Appreciative inquiry as a dispute resolution…