Previous TMTR Programs and News
2016 - Present
(Click here for 2015 - Earlier)
(Click here for 2015 - Earlier)
Friday, October 25, 2024, at noon Central Time on Zoom
TMTR'S HOUR OF POWER
TMTR Members only!
TMTR Members only!
|
Family Mediation, Outside of Divorce
This hour will inform on elder and adult mediation, even sibling and unspoken family conversations. |
Barbara Sunderland Manousso, Ph.D., M.P.H., CFRE
|
Barbara Sunderland Manousso, Ph.D., MPH, CFRE
Fellow, World Mediation Organization
Texas Distinguished Credentialed Mediator
Dr. Barbara Sunderland Manousso, Ph.D., M.P.H., CFRE, is CEO and founder of Manousso Mediation and Arbitration, LLC: Solution2Conflict. She has trained, lectured, and practiced mediation and arbitration worldwide, since 1993. Her podcast, Manousso Musing, is available on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. Dr. Manousso earned her baccalaureate from Brown University; Master of Public Health, from the University of Texas School of Public Health; and Ph.D., from Nova Southeastern University. She attended South Texas College of Law.
She was the 2016 to 2019 Chair of the Association for Conflict Resolution International section for Training, Education, and Research Committee and formerly Health Care Section and Workplace sections. For over ten years, she was adjunct faculty at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, TX, in Global Conflict Management, training foreign service officers and was a guest lecturer at Brown University’s School of Public Health in Conflict Management.
In 2019, Dr. Manousso received the highest honor in Texas mediation, the Suzanne Adams Award, from the Texas Association of Mediators. In 2018, she was recognized for a Lifetime Achievement Award in mediation and arbitration from the Association for Conflict Resolution Houston Chapter, a Houston Business Journal Mentor, and A Woman Who Means Business by the Houston Business Journal. In 2010, she was recognized as One of the Fifty Most Influential Women in Houston by the Houston Women’s Magazine. She has been the treasurer of the Texas Mediation Trainers Round Table since 2020, serving on the Executive Committee.
A recognized worldwide leader and lecturer in ADR, she recently wrote a textbook chapter on workplace conflict for the De Gruyter Handbook of Organizational Conflict Management, The HearT of Mediation, as well as having authored numerous other articles.
By Barbara Manousso
Fellow, World Mediation Organization
Texas Distinguished Credentialed Mediator
Dr. Barbara Sunderland Manousso, Ph.D., M.P.H., CFRE, is CEO and founder of Manousso Mediation and Arbitration, LLC: Solution2Conflict. She has trained, lectured, and practiced mediation and arbitration worldwide, since 1993. Her podcast, Manousso Musing, is available on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. Dr. Manousso earned her baccalaureate from Brown University; Master of Public Health, from the University of Texas School of Public Health; and Ph.D., from Nova Southeastern University. She attended South Texas College of Law.
She was the 2016 to 2019 Chair of the Association for Conflict Resolution International section for Training, Education, and Research Committee and formerly Health Care Section and Workplace sections. For over ten years, she was adjunct faculty at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, TX, in Global Conflict Management, training foreign service officers and was a guest lecturer at Brown University’s School of Public Health in Conflict Management.
In 2019, Dr. Manousso received the highest honor in Texas mediation, the Suzanne Adams Award, from the Texas Association of Mediators. In 2018, she was recognized for a Lifetime Achievement Award in mediation and arbitration from the Association for Conflict Resolution Houston Chapter, a Houston Business Journal Mentor, and A Woman Who Means Business by the Houston Business Journal. In 2010, she was recognized as One of the Fifty Most Influential Women in Houston by the Houston Women’s Magazine. She has been the treasurer of the Texas Mediation Trainers Round Table since 2020, serving on the Executive Committee.
A recognized worldwide leader and lecturer in ADR, she recently wrote a textbook chapter on workplace conflict for the De Gruyter Handbook of Organizational Conflict Management, The HearT of Mediation, as well as having authored numerous other articles.
By Barbara Manousso
Friday, May 10, 2024, at noon Central Time on Zoom
TMTR'S HOUR OF POWER
TMTR Members only!
TMTR Members only!
Divorce Coaching for Special Needs Families
Mary Ann Hughes
Mary Ann Hughes, MBA, founder of Special Family Transitions, is committed to helping families through the overwhelm and complexities of divorce involving children with disabilities through her work as a Certified Special Needs Divorce Coach. To further support special needs families, Mary Ann has also recently become a Mediator and Parenting Coordinator.
In addition to working with divorcing parents, Mary Ann shares information and resources on her Special Family Transitions platforms, her efforts as Co-Director of the Special Needs Chapter of the National Association of Divorce Professionals, and as a trainer for the Certified Special Needs Coach certification, a program she helped inspire and develop.
In addition to working with divorcing parents, Mary Ann shares information and resources on her Special Family Transitions platforms, her efforts as Co-Director of the Special Needs Chapter of the National Association of Divorce Professionals, and as a trainer for the Certified Special Needs Coach certification, a program she helped inspire and develop.
March 8, 2024, at 1:00 pm Central Time on Zoom
TMTR'S HOUR OF POWER
TMTR Members only!
TMTR Members only!
Changes in Texas Family Law and the Impact on Mediation.
Fran Brochstein
Fran Brochstein, a licensed Texas attorney for over 32 years and mediator for over 20 years, specializes in helping couples through divorce and family cases. She is the president of the Texas Association of Mediators, a director on the Board of the Tarrant County Association of Mediators, and actively belongs to several professional and mediation groups. In 2016, she served as president of the Association for Conflict Resolution-Houston Chapter and received their Lifetime Achievement Award. She is a training lecturer, well-recognized in Texas mediation. She has been married to Jimmy Jones for the past 10 years (3rd marriage) and she co-parents & co-grandparents with her ex-husband.
Here are some Resources recommended by Fran:
www.familylaw4u.com
Here are some Resources recommended by Fran:
- www.texaslawhelp.org
- Texas State Law Library in Austin
- Pro Se Divorce Handbook “Representing Yourself in Family Court” by the Texas Young Lawyers.
- YouTube videos and on-line articles written by Texas attorneys
- State Bar of Texas Lawyer Referral Service - $20 for 20 minutes with a TX attorney
- State Bar of Texas website – www.texasbar.com – Resource Directory
- www.texas.freelegalanswers.org
- www.avvo.com
- Child support calculator – Texas Attorney General’s child support calculator -csapps.oag.texas.gov/monthly-child-support-calculator
- Alcohol monitoring. Soberlink OR SmartStart
- Child Custody Journal – under $10 on Amazon
- Elder Law Attorneys – NAELA.org or NELF.org (National Association of Elder Law Attorneys or National Elder Law Foundation
www.familylaw4u.com
Louise Phipps Senft
TMTR'S HOUR OF POWER
TMTR Members only!
Friday, December 1, 2023 from 11 AM - 1 PM (Actually Two Hours of Power)
Train the Trainers – T3
Louise Phipps Senft, Founder and CEO of Baltimore Mediation is an attorney and nationally recognized Transformative Mediator for Family, Divorce, Commercial and Complicated Business and Healthcare Issues. She is the author of the best-selling book, Being Relational: the Seven Ways to Quality Interaction & Lasting Change. She is also the creator of a Top 15 Podcast, Blink of an Eye, on trauma and trauma healing, and she is the founder of the non profit I C THAT, the Integrative Center for Trauma Healing, Advocacy and Transformation, changing the way we respond to Spinal Cord Injury.
She has been named a top CEO in the state of Maryland and she has been awarded on multiple occasions the distinguished “Top 100 Women” in Maryland honor. She was elected into the Women’s President’s Organization for top female entrepreneurs, and she has also been voted by the Board of Governors of the International Academy of Mediators as a Distinguished Fellow.
She most recently was awarded Maryland’s “Leadership in Law Award” in 2020 and the ““Humanitarianism Award” in 2019 for her work with the Safe Streets Violence Interrupters. She has dedicated her expertise to work with ex-felons—committed to making a positive difference on the streets of Baltimore City—teaching them methods of self-awareness, relational awareness, and intuitive skills to de-escalate conflict to keep themselves and others on the streets alive and safe.
Professor Senft has pioneered the importance of self-awareness methods for families and leaders, for business and legal negotiators, and for mediators internationally, which more recently also includes a recognition of generational and collective trauma we carry intergenerationally. She has brought her work to her teaching at Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation, Insight Initiative, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, the Loyola Sellinger Business School, and for over 25 years of teaching at the University of Maryland School of Law.
Professionals and leaders from across the state, the U.S. and the globe register for her well-known 40-hour certificate courses on Conflict Transformation and Mediation Skills from a Relational Approach. She has trained thousands in an approach to conflict resolution that is grounded in relational conflict theory and in Knowing Thyself with a focus on the Enneagram of Personality. She creates opportunities for understanding oneself at a deeper level as a secret to remaining neutral as well as intuitive for assisting others with quality dialogue and empowerment. She is a masterful teacher encouraging all to befriend the internal and external barriers as she weaves in trauma healing understandings and the role of family systems in workplace and politics as well as personality motivations to bring conflict theory to life in her experiential relational teaching.
A Midwesterner who hails from Springfield, Illinois, the Land of Lincoln, Senft “went East” and was educated at the University of Virginia, where she was appointed as a member of the Board of Trustees for the class of 1983 and served as President of Kappa Alpha Theta national sorority. Thereafter, she was hired at Baker and Hostetler law firm in Washington DC in the defamation department where she was footnote editor of the treatise, Synopsis of the Law of Libel & the Right of Privacy by Bruce W. Sanford, one of the nation’s leading First Amendment lawyers. She then attended Washington & Lee University School of Law, where she was Chair of the International Moot Court Program and Founder and President of the Women Law Students Organization. She was elected as the first woman law representative to the over 100-year-old Honor System in the then traditionally all-male undergraduate campus. She graduated with honors and upon graduation, she was voted by her peers and by the law faculty as the Most Outstanding Law Student.
Senft and her husband moved to Baltimore where she practiced commercial law at Whiteford, Taylor & Preston and began a family practice. In her seventh year of litigation practice, she decided to leave her corporate law firm and forge a new alternative way to resolve legal disputes: through face-to-face dialogue. In 1993, she launched Baltimore Mediation, the first mediation firm in Maryland, and the first mediation firm in the US, with a practice focused exclusively on mediation and facilitation for quality interaction, face-to-face dialogue. Today, almost 30 years later, Baltimore Mediation remains a beacon of transformative practices, one of the most successful mediation firms in the U.S. and one of the largest mediation training programs in the U.S. Ms. Senft has personally mediated over 4,000 complicated divorce and family business and trust and estate matters, numerous large scale commercial disputes, and she and her team have facilitated thousands of professionals in departments, hospitals, and corporations facing complicated situations who are interested in navigating with quality dialogue to create inclusion and informed decision making.
Her experience extends to matters related to family, divorce, tax, family business, employment, EEOC, land use and zoning, commercial leases, discrimination, diversity and equity, trust and estates, nonprofit boards, healthcare, hospital integration, healthcare aquisitions, wrongful death, medical malpractice, church and religious crises, and Hopi tribal customs. She had the honor of being appointed by the highest court in Kentucky to mediate the nationally celebrated and intensely disputed Kloiber v Kloiber trusts and estates tax case, which included one of the reputed largest Dynasty Trusts in the U.S. The mediated outcome preserved the status of family trusts as non-marital property.
Ms. Senft’s life was changed when one of her five children was tragically injured in a 2015 freak diving accident in the ocean surf rendering him a quadriplegic. She spent months living by his side in ICU’s and hospitals battling for his life and quality of his care, paralyzed from the neck down. She and her family responded with love and fierce advocacy. Her son Archer’s choice to live and be hopeful has been a beacon to many. She brings this life experience combined with her years of intuition, relational practices, and conflict transformation skills to leaders committed to making a difference in the lives of those they serve. She created Blink of an Eye Podcast in 2020 during the Pandemic, her own storytelling of her experience with Archer and the medical profession, which includes trauma healing insights and learnings. Blink of an Eye has thousands of listeners across the U.S. In 2021, she founded the non-profit, the Integrative Center for Trauma Healing, Advocacy, and Transformation, I C THAT, to be a national resource to families and medical teams to change the way we respond to Spinal Cord Injury.
She has served on both Democrat and Republican Governors’ task forces advising in Government transition, crime control, juvenile crime, After-School Programming, and Family Initiatives. She has been a close advisor to Maryland’s highest court’s Chief Judge on Alternative Dispute Resolution issues. She has been a close advisor for Fortune 100 Executives for navigating complex commercial transitions and creating cohesive boards of directors and Executive Leadership teams. And she is a founding Trustee for the Convergence Center for Policy Resolution in Washington, D.C., to help members of Congress from both parties talk with each other.
As a result of her son’s accident and her advocacy, she was recently appointed by Governor Hogan and approved by the Maryland Senate to serve on the Maryland Board of Physicians, regulating licensure and discipline in healthcare.
Whether through her Podcast, Blink of an Eye, her writings and teachings, or her keynote speeches, Louise brings a message of Being Relational in everyday living, eliciting the stories of others and the inner wisdom of a wide range of experts, with a focus on conflict, trauma and healing, epiphanies and miracles, and the art of living a full authentic life, despite setbacks and the transactional decisions of others.
She is also a Dame in the Order of Malta, and has served as the President of her Parish Council, the first woman to be elected to the role, and on the Archdiocese of Baltimore Community Foundation and the Archdiocese of Arlington Review Board.
On Friday, 1 December 2023, 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM presentation:
Louise Phipps Senft, JD: author of Being Relational: The Seven Ways to Quality Interaction in Lasting Change
By Barbara Manousso
TMTR Members only!
Friday, December 1, 2023 from 11 AM - 1 PM (Actually Two Hours of Power)
Train the Trainers – T3
Louise Phipps Senft, Founder and CEO of Baltimore Mediation is an attorney and nationally recognized Transformative Mediator for Family, Divorce, Commercial and Complicated Business and Healthcare Issues. She is the author of the best-selling book, Being Relational: the Seven Ways to Quality Interaction & Lasting Change. She is also the creator of a Top 15 Podcast, Blink of an Eye, on trauma and trauma healing, and she is the founder of the non profit I C THAT, the Integrative Center for Trauma Healing, Advocacy and Transformation, changing the way we respond to Spinal Cord Injury.
She has been named a top CEO in the state of Maryland and she has been awarded on multiple occasions the distinguished “Top 100 Women” in Maryland honor. She was elected into the Women’s President’s Organization for top female entrepreneurs, and she has also been voted by the Board of Governors of the International Academy of Mediators as a Distinguished Fellow.
She most recently was awarded Maryland’s “Leadership in Law Award” in 2020 and the ““Humanitarianism Award” in 2019 for her work with the Safe Streets Violence Interrupters. She has dedicated her expertise to work with ex-felons—committed to making a positive difference on the streets of Baltimore City—teaching them methods of self-awareness, relational awareness, and intuitive skills to de-escalate conflict to keep themselves and others on the streets alive and safe.
Professor Senft has pioneered the importance of self-awareness methods for families and leaders, for business and legal negotiators, and for mediators internationally, which more recently also includes a recognition of generational and collective trauma we carry intergenerationally. She has brought her work to her teaching at Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation, Insight Initiative, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, the Loyola Sellinger Business School, and for over 25 years of teaching at the University of Maryland School of Law.
Professionals and leaders from across the state, the U.S. and the globe register for her well-known 40-hour certificate courses on Conflict Transformation and Mediation Skills from a Relational Approach. She has trained thousands in an approach to conflict resolution that is grounded in relational conflict theory and in Knowing Thyself with a focus on the Enneagram of Personality. She creates opportunities for understanding oneself at a deeper level as a secret to remaining neutral as well as intuitive for assisting others with quality dialogue and empowerment. She is a masterful teacher encouraging all to befriend the internal and external barriers as she weaves in trauma healing understandings and the role of family systems in workplace and politics as well as personality motivations to bring conflict theory to life in her experiential relational teaching.
A Midwesterner who hails from Springfield, Illinois, the Land of Lincoln, Senft “went East” and was educated at the University of Virginia, where she was appointed as a member of the Board of Trustees for the class of 1983 and served as President of Kappa Alpha Theta national sorority. Thereafter, she was hired at Baker and Hostetler law firm in Washington DC in the defamation department where she was footnote editor of the treatise, Synopsis of the Law of Libel & the Right of Privacy by Bruce W. Sanford, one of the nation’s leading First Amendment lawyers. She then attended Washington & Lee University School of Law, where she was Chair of the International Moot Court Program and Founder and President of the Women Law Students Organization. She was elected as the first woman law representative to the over 100-year-old Honor System in the then traditionally all-male undergraduate campus. She graduated with honors and upon graduation, she was voted by her peers and by the law faculty as the Most Outstanding Law Student.
Senft and her husband moved to Baltimore where she practiced commercial law at Whiteford, Taylor & Preston and began a family practice. In her seventh year of litigation practice, she decided to leave her corporate law firm and forge a new alternative way to resolve legal disputes: through face-to-face dialogue. In 1993, she launched Baltimore Mediation, the first mediation firm in Maryland, and the first mediation firm in the US, with a practice focused exclusively on mediation and facilitation for quality interaction, face-to-face dialogue. Today, almost 30 years later, Baltimore Mediation remains a beacon of transformative practices, one of the most successful mediation firms in the U.S. and one of the largest mediation training programs in the U.S. Ms. Senft has personally mediated over 4,000 complicated divorce and family business and trust and estate matters, numerous large scale commercial disputes, and she and her team have facilitated thousands of professionals in departments, hospitals, and corporations facing complicated situations who are interested in navigating with quality dialogue to create inclusion and informed decision making.
Her experience extends to matters related to family, divorce, tax, family business, employment, EEOC, land use and zoning, commercial leases, discrimination, diversity and equity, trust and estates, nonprofit boards, healthcare, hospital integration, healthcare aquisitions, wrongful death, medical malpractice, church and religious crises, and Hopi tribal customs. She had the honor of being appointed by the highest court in Kentucky to mediate the nationally celebrated and intensely disputed Kloiber v Kloiber trusts and estates tax case, which included one of the reputed largest Dynasty Trusts in the U.S. The mediated outcome preserved the status of family trusts as non-marital property.
Ms. Senft’s life was changed when one of her five children was tragically injured in a 2015 freak diving accident in the ocean surf rendering him a quadriplegic. She spent months living by his side in ICU’s and hospitals battling for his life and quality of his care, paralyzed from the neck down. She and her family responded with love and fierce advocacy. Her son Archer’s choice to live and be hopeful has been a beacon to many. She brings this life experience combined with her years of intuition, relational practices, and conflict transformation skills to leaders committed to making a difference in the lives of those they serve. She created Blink of an Eye Podcast in 2020 during the Pandemic, her own storytelling of her experience with Archer and the medical profession, which includes trauma healing insights and learnings. Blink of an Eye has thousands of listeners across the U.S. In 2021, she founded the non-profit, the Integrative Center for Trauma Healing, Advocacy, and Transformation, I C THAT, to be a national resource to families and medical teams to change the way we respond to Spinal Cord Injury.
She has served on both Democrat and Republican Governors’ task forces advising in Government transition, crime control, juvenile crime, After-School Programming, and Family Initiatives. She has been a close advisor to Maryland’s highest court’s Chief Judge on Alternative Dispute Resolution issues. She has been a close advisor for Fortune 100 Executives for navigating complex commercial transitions and creating cohesive boards of directors and Executive Leadership teams. And she is a founding Trustee for the Convergence Center for Policy Resolution in Washington, D.C., to help members of Congress from both parties talk with each other.
As a result of her son’s accident and her advocacy, she was recently appointed by Governor Hogan and approved by the Maryland Senate to serve on the Maryland Board of Physicians, regulating licensure and discipline in healthcare.
Whether through her Podcast, Blink of an Eye, her writings and teachings, or her keynote speeches, Louise brings a message of Being Relational in everyday living, eliciting the stories of others and the inner wisdom of a wide range of experts, with a focus on conflict, trauma and healing, epiphanies and miracles, and the art of living a full authentic life, despite setbacks and the transactional decisions of others.
She is also a Dame in the Order of Malta, and has served as the President of her Parish Council, the first woman to be elected to the role, and on the Archdiocese of Baltimore Community Foundation and the Archdiocese of Arlington Review Board.
On Friday, 1 December 2023, 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM presentation:
Louise Phipps Senft, JD: author of Being Relational: The Seven Ways to Quality Interaction in Lasting Change
By Barbara Manousso
TMTR’S HOUR OF POWER
Train-the-Trainers: TMTR Members only!
Train the Trainers – T3
Friday, 8 September 2023, 11AM to 1 PM
Gary Doernhoefer, JD, founder of ADR Notable, LLC
https://www.adrnotable.com/for-trainers
Mediation Software for Case and Practice Management
Train-the-Trainers: TMTR Members only!
Train the Trainers – T3
Friday, 8 September 2023, 11AM to 1 PM
Gary Doernhoefer, JD, founder of ADR Notable, LLC
https://www.adrnotable.com/for-trainers
Mediation Software for Case and Practice Management
Introduce your trainees to mediation technology and put your training materials right in their workspace, at no cost to you.
Gary Doernhoefer, JD, founder of ADR Notable, LLC
By Barbara Manousso
Michael B. Leach, PhD
TMTR'S HOUR OF POWER
For TMTR members only on Monday, 24 April, 2023, 11 AM - Noon on Zoom
DR. MICHAEL B. LEACH
Effectively Value and Use Your Family Team - Be Informed About Your Family Court and Support Team
Michael B. Leach, PhD. is Founder and Past-President of the Center for Effective Living, Inc., a multidisciplinary practice in Northeast Ohio comprised of psychologists, psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, clinical social workers and licensed professional counselors. He is a graduate of Brown University and received advanced degrees at Case Western Reserve University. He was a National Institutes of Mental Health Fellow at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Michael is a qualified divorce mediator and has served as a Parent Coordinator in the state of Ohio. He has conducted over 1000 child custody evaluations for
domestic relations courts throughout Ohio. He spends a good deal of his time counseling couples and offering intensive short-term counseling for individuals and families coping with divorce.
TMTR trainers will benefit from Dr. Leach’s thirty plus years of mediating and serving families with his wisdom and roles in being part of teams that support families coping with divorce and reminding mediators and trainers of family services available.
By Barbara Manousso
For TMTR members only on Monday, 24 April, 2023, 11 AM - Noon on Zoom
DR. MICHAEL B. LEACH
Effectively Value and Use Your Family Team - Be Informed About Your Family Court and Support Team
Michael B. Leach, PhD. is Founder and Past-President of the Center for Effective Living, Inc., a multidisciplinary practice in Northeast Ohio comprised of psychologists, psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, clinical social workers and licensed professional counselors. He is a graduate of Brown University and received advanced degrees at Case Western Reserve University. He was a National Institutes of Mental Health Fellow at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Michael is a qualified divorce mediator and has served as a Parent Coordinator in the state of Ohio. He has conducted over 1000 child custody evaluations for
domestic relations courts throughout Ohio. He spends a good deal of his time counseling couples and offering intensive short-term counseling for individuals and families coping with divorce.
TMTR trainers will benefit from Dr. Leach’s thirty plus years of mediating and serving families with his wisdom and roles in being part of teams that support families coping with divorce and reminding mediators and trainers of family services available.
By Barbara Manousso
Master Class Mediator and Trainer Lee Jay Berman
will present Train-The-Trainer, Hour (plus) of Power
This program is free for all paid TMTR members on Friday, 27 January 2023, at 10 AM, live on ZOOM.
Lee Jay Berman began as a full-time mediator over 26 years ago, and has successfully mediated over 2,400 matters. He is a on the American Arbitration Association’s elite Master Mediator panel for employment matters, and is a national panelist on AAA’s commercial and construction panels. He is a Distinguished Fellow with the International Academy of Mediators, a Charter Diplomat with the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals (NADN), certified by the International Mediation Institute, and a Dispute Resolution Expert with the United Nations Development Programme. The NADN honored him with their inaugural “Distinguished Neutral of the Year” award in 2017. He is ranked "Top Ranked Mediator" nationally in Chambers & Partners in 2018-2019. He was Mediator of the Year for the US Bankruptcy Court in California, California’s Daily Journal twice named him “Top Neutral”, Acquisition International Magazine awarded him “Mediator of the Year – California” from 2012-2019, and he has been voted by his colleagues into the Who’s Who of International Commercial Mediation in 2012-2019.
Also a respected trainer, he founded the American Institute of Mediation, leaving his position as Director of Pepperdine Law School's Mediating the Litigated Case program after seven years. In addition to lecturing and training at Pepperdine, he has also done so at Southwestern Law School, University of Texas, Southern Methodist University, Cal-State Northridge, UC Santa Barbara, and Bond University in Brisbane, Australia. Lee Jay has trained judges, attorneys and business leaders in India, Australia, Europe and the Middle East.
As an author, he has published numerous articles on mediation, negotiation, and ADR, along with his blog Eye On Conflict, and the ABA will be publishing two of his books in 2020.
For more information, please visit www.LeeJayBerman.com.
will present Train-The-Trainer, Hour (plus) of Power
This program is free for all paid TMTR members on Friday, 27 January 2023, at 10 AM, live on ZOOM.
Lee Jay Berman began as a full-time mediator over 26 years ago, and has successfully mediated over 2,400 matters. He is a on the American Arbitration Association’s elite Master Mediator panel for employment matters, and is a national panelist on AAA’s commercial and construction panels. He is a Distinguished Fellow with the International Academy of Mediators, a Charter Diplomat with the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals (NADN), certified by the International Mediation Institute, and a Dispute Resolution Expert with the United Nations Development Programme. The NADN honored him with their inaugural “Distinguished Neutral of the Year” award in 2017. He is ranked "Top Ranked Mediator" nationally in Chambers & Partners in 2018-2019. He was Mediator of the Year for the US Bankruptcy Court in California, California’s Daily Journal twice named him “Top Neutral”, Acquisition International Magazine awarded him “Mediator of the Year – California” from 2012-2019, and he has been voted by his colleagues into the Who’s Who of International Commercial Mediation in 2012-2019.
Also a respected trainer, he founded the American Institute of Mediation, leaving his position as Director of Pepperdine Law School's Mediating the Litigated Case program after seven years. In addition to lecturing and training at Pepperdine, he has also done so at Southwestern Law School, University of Texas, Southern Methodist University, Cal-State Northridge, UC Santa Barbara, and Bond University in Brisbane, Australia. Lee Jay has trained judges, attorneys and business leaders in India, Australia, Europe and the Middle East.
As an author, he has published numerous articles on mediation, negotiation, and ADR, along with his blog Eye On Conflict, and the ABA will be publishing two of his books in 2020.
For more information, please visit www.LeeJayBerman.com.
Lee Jay Berman
Friday, 18 November 2022,
10 AM, ZOOM ID: 713 557 1010
Texas Mediation Trainers Roundtable
presents
THE POWER HOUR - TRAIN THE TRAINER
with
International Author, Mediator, and Trainer
Rev. Tope Popoola
This will be a rewarding hour of training to help you teach your students and to implement yourself the importance of being mindful of what a service business needs to convey for the business practice and pedagogy offered to our mediation students and what it means to us all to offer professional services. Rev. Popoola has an impressive career and seven books that will inspire your next class of students. "Customer Relation Management: Rules of Engagement," his latest book, will be at the heart of his presentation. Rev. Tope Popoola has over twenty-five years of experience in the corporate sector as well as in various advisory roles to the business community and to government in Nigeria. He is one of Africa’s leading voices on Leadership, Human Capital and Business Development. Among other things, he is:
- Fellow, Institute of Management Consultants (FIMC)
- Certified Management Consultant – (CMC)
- Professional MEDIATOR/NEGOTIATOR - alumnus of Manousso Mediation and Arbitration LLC.
- Alumnus of the prestigious Important Visitor Programme (IVP) of the government of the United States
- Alumnus of the PDIA program of the Centre for International Development of Harvard University.
- Alumnus of the University of Stellenbosch program on Futurism in Business
- Alumnus Haggai International
- Honorary Citizen of the State of Nebraska (USA).
Former member of the Ekiti State Judicial Service Commission, Nigeria and current President of the Ado-Ekiti Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture in Nigeria, Tope speaks regularly on Leadership, Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship and consults for several organizations on these issues.
He has been instrumental to the training of professionals and business leaders from over 40 countries.
Published Books
- CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT: Rules of Engagement
- LIVING INTENTIONALLY
- FIRST THINGS FIRST - How To Live A Life of Priorities
- THE LEADERPRENEUR
- LEADERSHIP IS FOR THE DEAD
- LEAD AS YOU GO
- THE 60-SECOND MOTIVATOR
By Barbara Manousso
10 AM, ZOOM ID: 713 557 1010
Texas Mediation Trainers Roundtable
presents
THE POWER HOUR - TRAIN THE TRAINER
with
International Author, Mediator, and Trainer
Rev. Tope Popoola
This will be a rewarding hour of training to help you teach your students and to implement yourself the importance of being mindful of what a service business needs to convey for the business practice and pedagogy offered to our mediation students and what it means to us all to offer professional services. Rev. Popoola has an impressive career and seven books that will inspire your next class of students. "Customer Relation Management: Rules of Engagement," his latest book, will be at the heart of his presentation. Rev. Tope Popoola has over twenty-five years of experience in the corporate sector as well as in various advisory roles to the business community and to government in Nigeria. He is one of Africa’s leading voices on Leadership, Human Capital and Business Development. Among other things, he is:
- Fellow, Institute of Management Consultants (FIMC)
- Certified Management Consultant – (CMC)
- Professional MEDIATOR/NEGOTIATOR - alumnus of Manousso Mediation and Arbitration LLC.
- Alumnus of the prestigious Important Visitor Programme (IVP) of the government of the United States
- Alumnus of the PDIA program of the Centre for International Development of Harvard University.
- Alumnus of the University of Stellenbosch program on Futurism in Business
- Alumnus Haggai International
- Honorary Citizen of the State of Nebraska (USA).
Former member of the Ekiti State Judicial Service Commission, Nigeria and current President of the Ado-Ekiti Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture in Nigeria, Tope speaks regularly on Leadership, Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship and consults for several organizations on these issues.
He has been instrumental to the training of professionals and business leaders from over 40 countries.
Published Books
- CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT: Rules of Engagement
- LIVING INTENTIONALLY
- FIRST THINGS FIRST - How To Live A Life of Priorities
- THE LEADERPRENEUR
- LEADERSHIP IS FOR THE DEAD
- LEAD AS YOU GO
- THE 60-SECOND MOTIVATOR
By Barbara Manousso
TMTR - April 22, 2022, 10 AM until 11:30 AM on ZOOM
Board meeting and presentation by Dr. Karl Slaikeu!
We are fortunate to have Dr. Slaikeu, a seasoned mediator, author, trainer, and longtime TMTR member, so this will be an informative lecture and quarterly meeting.
As a TMTR member, this is a complementary and complimentary program to provide ongoing Train-The-Trainer skills.
Dr. Karl Slaikeu, Ph.D., is an internationally recognized psychologist, mediator and negotiation expert based in Austin, Texas. He is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo (MA, PhD), Princeton Theological Seminary (MDiv) and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (BA).
Dr. Slaikeu holds a patent for a business model that integrates cost savings methods of conflict resolution into organizational procedures. He has mediated a wide range of commercial, employment and organizational disputes, and trained numerous attorneys, business leaders, mental health professionals and faith based leaders in conflict and crisis resolution methods.
Dr. Slaikeu is the author of When Push Comes to Shove: A Practical Guide for Mediating Disputes and five other books and numerous professional publications on negotiation, mediation, crisis intervention and conflict resolution. His model for psychological first aid has been translated into thirty-two languages for use by the American Red Cross with earthquake and tsunami survivors in Central America and Asia.
Board meeting and presentation by Dr. Karl Slaikeu!
We are fortunate to have Dr. Slaikeu, a seasoned mediator, author, trainer, and longtime TMTR member, so this will be an informative lecture and quarterly meeting.
As a TMTR member, this is a complementary and complimentary program to provide ongoing Train-The-Trainer skills.
Dr. Karl Slaikeu, Ph.D., is an internationally recognized psychologist, mediator and negotiation expert based in Austin, Texas. He is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo (MA, PhD), Princeton Theological Seminary (MDiv) and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (BA).
Dr. Slaikeu holds a patent for a business model that integrates cost savings methods of conflict resolution into organizational procedures. He has mediated a wide range of commercial, employment and organizational disputes, and trained numerous attorneys, business leaders, mental health professionals and faith based leaders in conflict and crisis resolution methods.
Dr. Slaikeu is the author of When Push Comes to Shove: A Practical Guide for Mediating Disputes and five other books and numerous professional publications on negotiation, mediation, crisis intervention and conflict resolution. His model for psychological first aid has been translated into thirty-two languages for use by the American Red Cross with earthquake and tsunami survivors in Central America and Asia.
November 19, 2021, at 9:45 AM - TMTR on ZOOM
Narrative Mediation Workshop with Dr. Gerald Monk
Narrative mediation is an innovative conflict resolution paradigm that is a revolutionary departure from the traditional problem-solving, interest-based model of resolving disputes. Based upon a postmodern, social constructionist philosophy, narrative mediation views conflict as arising within cultural contexts that have a direct bearing on how parties construct their perceptions of a particular event.
Narrative mediation is a culturally focused practice that is based upon the notion that our lives are shaped by the stories that people tell about us and by the stories that we tell ourselves. The goal of the narrative mediator is to co-author stories that highlight strengths and competencies, rather than conflict. It helps people separate themselves from conflict-saturated stories and gives them the opportunity to re-author relationships in more peaceful, cooperative, and respectful ways. From this alternative position, the resolution of conflict can often happen much more smoothly and effectively than in traditional problem-solving approaches.
This workshop reviews the hallmarks of narrative mediation through a case presentation. Some of the key mediation techniques will also be reviewed within the context of a mediation scenario.
Dr. Gerald Monk is a Professor in the Department of Counseling and School Psychology at San Diego State University and a Marriage and Family Therapist in California and a mediator and trainer in health care. He conducts clinical work with couples and families. Gerald originally worked as a child psychologist in New Zealand before moving to the USA.
Gerald is well known for his contributions in developing Narrative Mediation with his colleague John Winslade. Gerald has taught numerous workshops on this subject in Denmark, the UK, Ireland, Canada, Austria, Iceland, Cyprus, Mexico, Russia and across the United States.
He has co-authored seven books in the field therapy and culturally responsive mediation and therapy. The books include Narrative Therapy in Practice: The Archaeology of Hope (1997), Narrative Mediation: A New Approach to Conflict Resolution (2000), Narrative Counseling in the Schools (2007), New Horizons in Multicultural Counseling (2008), Practicing Narrative Mediation: Loosening the Grip of Conflict (2008), When Stories Clash: Addressing Conflict with Narrative Mediation (2012) and Intercultural Counseling: Bridging the Us and Them Divide (2020).
Narrative Mediation Workshop with Dr. Gerald Monk
Narrative mediation is an innovative conflict resolution paradigm that is a revolutionary departure from the traditional problem-solving, interest-based model of resolving disputes. Based upon a postmodern, social constructionist philosophy, narrative mediation views conflict as arising within cultural contexts that have a direct bearing on how parties construct their perceptions of a particular event.
Narrative mediation is a culturally focused practice that is based upon the notion that our lives are shaped by the stories that people tell about us and by the stories that we tell ourselves. The goal of the narrative mediator is to co-author stories that highlight strengths and competencies, rather than conflict. It helps people separate themselves from conflict-saturated stories and gives them the opportunity to re-author relationships in more peaceful, cooperative, and respectful ways. From this alternative position, the resolution of conflict can often happen much more smoothly and effectively than in traditional problem-solving approaches.
This workshop reviews the hallmarks of narrative mediation through a case presentation. Some of the key mediation techniques will also be reviewed within the context of a mediation scenario.
Dr. Gerald Monk is a Professor in the Department of Counseling and School Psychology at San Diego State University and a Marriage and Family Therapist in California and a mediator and trainer in health care. He conducts clinical work with couples and families. Gerald originally worked as a child psychologist in New Zealand before moving to the USA.
Gerald is well known for his contributions in developing Narrative Mediation with his colleague John Winslade. Gerald has taught numerous workshops on this subject in Denmark, the UK, Ireland, Canada, Austria, Iceland, Cyprus, Mexico, Russia and across the United States.
He has co-authored seven books in the field therapy and culturally responsive mediation and therapy. The books include Narrative Therapy in Practice: The Archaeology of Hope (1997), Narrative Mediation: A New Approach to Conflict Resolution (2000), Narrative Counseling in the Schools (2007), New Horizons in Multicultural Counseling (2008), Practicing Narrative Mediation: Loosening the Grip of Conflict (2008), When Stories Clash: Addressing Conflict with Narrative Mediation (2012) and Intercultural Counseling: Bridging the Us and Them Divide (2020).
T3 Workshop: Interconnected Restorative Practices for Trainers
Friday, 25 June 2021, at 1:00 PM until 5:00 PM
We are thrilled to have two dynamic, international speakers, the team of Tony Belak, JD and J-R Curtin, Ph.D.!
We welcome our colleagues from TMCA, TAM, and other mediation and ADR groups! This workshop is open to all dispute resolution professionals.
Friday, 25 June 2021, at 1:00 PM until 5:00 PM
We are thrilled to have two dynamic, international speakers, the team of Tony Belak, JD and J-R Curtin, Ph.D.!
We welcome our colleagues from TMCA, TAM, and other mediation and ADR groups! This workshop is open to all dispute resolution professionals.
Tony Belak, JD, on the left, and J-R Curtin, Ph.D. , on the right.
This workshop will present information, activities, and examples from several interconnected areas that should be useful to mediation trainers and practitioners.
The workshop will also focus on understanding and correcting workplace incivility, including bullying, harassment, and other negative behaviors.
T3 Train-The-Trainer 2021 WorkshopThe techniques include identifying and correcting bullying and other negative behaviors, preventing burnout in natural trust leaders, behavioral transition techniques for positive growth, and restorative practices in alternative dispute resolution. The workshop begins with the recognition that parties involved in conflict are in distress due to the fact that “we are all recovering from something.”
The presence of conflict exacerbates distress and complicates efforts to develop an appreciation of the parties’ underlying needs, wants, fears, and alterations in power dynamics. The techniques presented will be useful for trainers and practitioners who provide conflict counseling, coaching, mediation, and conciliation and wish to incorporate restorative practices into their teaching toolbox.
This is especially helpful in introducing into trainings to support ongoing relationships, business goodwill, employment matters, or divorce involving children. Essentially, this provides the opportunity for all involved to be fully recognized and, thereby, restore relationships to a higher level of acceptance with deeper understanding and requisite respect.
Tony Belak was the Ombuds at the University of Louisville, Associate Director of the Center for Conflict Resolution at La Sierra University, Riverside, California, founder of The Institute for Workplace Transition, and the former Executive Director of the International Center for Collaborative Solutions at Sullivan University, Louisville, Kentucky, where he was also on the faculty of the Master of Science in Conflict Management program. He is a faculty member of the Department of Urban and Public Affairs at the University of Louisville and associate editor of the online Journal of Conflict Management at Sullivan University. He was the Senior Dispute Resolution Counsel for the Department of Veterans Affairs and is not only a mediator and arbitrator but also a teacher in basic, advanced, and specialized conflict resolution. He is recognized for his innovation in designing conflict resolution programs within the workplace.
He has taught conflict resolution at the University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, Indiana University Southeast College of Business, and MBA courses and seminars at the Vienna campus of Webster University and Bratislava, Slovakia. He is the first attorney graduate of the George Washington University Interagency Institute for Federal Health Care Executives (1992). He was an original founder of the Louisville Bar Association ADR Committee and served for eight years on the Kentucky Bar Association ADR Committee and as its chair for two years. He is the former Regional Counsel for the Department of Veterans Affairs and was an initial member of the Civil Justice Reform Act Committee for the Western District of Kentucky, former assistant Commonwealth Attorney, special assistant U.S. Attorney, and President of the Federal Bar Association, Kentucky Chapter. He is a certified mediator and arbitrator with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the Kentucky Collaborative Family Network, the U.S. Postal Service REDRESS Program, trained as an arbitrator by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), a mediator/arbitrator with the Southern Indiana Realtors Association, Inc., and a member of the Louisville Labor-Management Committee. He also is past two term chair of the Louisville Bar Association ADR/Mediation Section and past President of the Mediation Association of Kentucky, and President of the Kentucky Chapter of the Labor and Employment Relations Association.
Mr. Belak has traveled throughout the United States and Europe lecturing and training in mediation and dispute resolution. He has taught mediation skills to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) internal mediators and conflict resolution training to United Nations and Austria Kontrollbank managers and supervisors in Vienna and Irish Department of Defense mediators in Dublin. He is the founder and past president of the Federal ADR Council, Inc., a non-profit shared neutral mediation project for federal agencies in Kentucky and Indiana, the oldest in the nation. He was instrumental in establishing the Mediation Association of Kentucky, the Jefferson County Court Annexed Mediation Rule, the Federal Court prisoner petition mediation project, and one of the earliest peer and truancy mediation programs in Jefferson County, Kentucky. He served on the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service focus group to establish core competencies for their internal roster of neutrals, the Administrative Office of the Courts Mediator Guidelines Committee, and has published articles in national magazines and local newspapers regarding conflict resolution. He began his interest in ADR as an ombudsman in the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Illinois in 1973. Tony can be reached at 502.345.6763 or [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
John-Robert Curtin, Ph.D. is a Senior Fellow and Executive Director of the 4Civility Institute, Louisville, Kentucky and 4Civility Institute, Dublin Ireland. He is also a faculty member at the University of Louisville and at Indiana University and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in mediation, restorative justice, and alternative dispute resolution. He is the author of On Civility: Restorative Reflections, (2020) Old Stone Press; also, An Exploratory Study of Existing State Anti-Bullying Statutes, (2016), Lambert Academic Press and a contributing author to a two-volume set, “Workplace Bullying and Mobbing” ABC-CLIO, Inc., Santa Barbara, California, January 2018. 4Civility Institute provides mediation training, ombuds training, certifications, software reporting systems, restorative justice, and behavioral transition practice solutions to schools, businesses and organizations.
He has extensive experience in alternative dispute resolution, restorative justice, education, training, and in anti-bullying efforts. He also the founder of the Connected Learning Network, an education-based company, which has provided online services to over 120 schools, colleges, businesses and organizations worldwide. In that capacity, he has been a principal in 12 European Commission funded projects and numerous U.S. Funded projects. John-Robert is also known for his work in public television, as an Emmy award winning- producer and station president.
He has over 200 local, national and international programs to his credit. His Ph.D. is in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Louisville with a concentration in Alternative Dispute Resolution. He academic background also includes degrees in creative writing and oceanography. He describes himself as a “serial social entrepreneur with and over-commitment addiction.”
By Melissa Back McAlpine and Char Wittenberg,TMTR Co-Chairs
The workshop will also focus on understanding and correcting workplace incivility, including bullying, harassment, and other negative behaviors.
T3 Train-The-Trainer 2021 WorkshopThe techniques include identifying and correcting bullying and other negative behaviors, preventing burnout in natural trust leaders, behavioral transition techniques for positive growth, and restorative practices in alternative dispute resolution. The workshop begins with the recognition that parties involved in conflict are in distress due to the fact that “we are all recovering from something.”
The presence of conflict exacerbates distress and complicates efforts to develop an appreciation of the parties’ underlying needs, wants, fears, and alterations in power dynamics. The techniques presented will be useful for trainers and practitioners who provide conflict counseling, coaching, mediation, and conciliation and wish to incorporate restorative practices into their teaching toolbox.
This is especially helpful in introducing into trainings to support ongoing relationships, business goodwill, employment matters, or divorce involving children. Essentially, this provides the opportunity for all involved to be fully recognized and, thereby, restore relationships to a higher level of acceptance with deeper understanding and requisite respect.
Tony Belak was the Ombuds at the University of Louisville, Associate Director of the Center for Conflict Resolution at La Sierra University, Riverside, California, founder of The Institute for Workplace Transition, and the former Executive Director of the International Center for Collaborative Solutions at Sullivan University, Louisville, Kentucky, where he was also on the faculty of the Master of Science in Conflict Management program. He is a faculty member of the Department of Urban and Public Affairs at the University of Louisville and associate editor of the online Journal of Conflict Management at Sullivan University. He was the Senior Dispute Resolution Counsel for the Department of Veterans Affairs and is not only a mediator and arbitrator but also a teacher in basic, advanced, and specialized conflict resolution. He is recognized for his innovation in designing conflict resolution programs within the workplace.
He has taught conflict resolution at the University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, Indiana University Southeast College of Business, and MBA courses and seminars at the Vienna campus of Webster University and Bratislava, Slovakia. He is the first attorney graduate of the George Washington University Interagency Institute for Federal Health Care Executives (1992). He was an original founder of the Louisville Bar Association ADR Committee and served for eight years on the Kentucky Bar Association ADR Committee and as its chair for two years. He is the former Regional Counsel for the Department of Veterans Affairs and was an initial member of the Civil Justice Reform Act Committee for the Western District of Kentucky, former assistant Commonwealth Attorney, special assistant U.S. Attorney, and President of the Federal Bar Association, Kentucky Chapter. He is a certified mediator and arbitrator with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the Kentucky Collaborative Family Network, the U.S. Postal Service REDRESS Program, trained as an arbitrator by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), a mediator/arbitrator with the Southern Indiana Realtors Association, Inc., and a member of the Louisville Labor-Management Committee. He also is past two term chair of the Louisville Bar Association ADR/Mediation Section and past President of the Mediation Association of Kentucky, and President of the Kentucky Chapter of the Labor and Employment Relations Association.
Mr. Belak has traveled throughout the United States and Europe lecturing and training in mediation and dispute resolution. He has taught mediation skills to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) internal mediators and conflict resolution training to United Nations and Austria Kontrollbank managers and supervisors in Vienna and Irish Department of Defense mediators in Dublin. He is the founder and past president of the Federal ADR Council, Inc., a non-profit shared neutral mediation project for federal agencies in Kentucky and Indiana, the oldest in the nation. He was instrumental in establishing the Mediation Association of Kentucky, the Jefferson County Court Annexed Mediation Rule, the Federal Court prisoner petition mediation project, and one of the earliest peer and truancy mediation programs in Jefferson County, Kentucky. He served on the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service focus group to establish core competencies for their internal roster of neutrals, the Administrative Office of the Courts Mediator Guidelines Committee, and has published articles in national magazines and local newspapers regarding conflict resolution. He began his interest in ADR as an ombudsman in the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Illinois in 1973. Tony can be reached at 502.345.6763 or [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
John-Robert Curtin, Ph.D. is a Senior Fellow and Executive Director of the 4Civility Institute, Louisville, Kentucky and 4Civility Institute, Dublin Ireland. He is also a faculty member at the University of Louisville and at Indiana University and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in mediation, restorative justice, and alternative dispute resolution. He is the author of On Civility: Restorative Reflections, (2020) Old Stone Press; also, An Exploratory Study of Existing State Anti-Bullying Statutes, (2016), Lambert Academic Press and a contributing author to a two-volume set, “Workplace Bullying and Mobbing” ABC-CLIO, Inc., Santa Barbara, California, January 2018. 4Civility Institute provides mediation training, ombuds training, certifications, software reporting systems, restorative justice, and behavioral transition practice solutions to schools, businesses and organizations.
He has extensive experience in alternative dispute resolution, restorative justice, education, training, and in anti-bullying efforts. He also the founder of the Connected Learning Network, an education-based company, which has provided online services to over 120 schools, colleges, businesses and organizations worldwide. In that capacity, he has been a principal in 12 European Commission funded projects and numerous U.S. Funded projects. John-Robert is also known for his work in public television, as an Emmy award winning- producer and station president.
He has over 200 local, national and international programs to his credit. His Ph.D. is in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Louisville with a concentration in Alternative Dispute Resolution. He academic background also includes degrees in creative writing and oceanography. He describes himself as a “serial social entrepreneur with and over-commitment addiction.”
By Melissa Back McAlpine and Char Wittenberg,TMTR Co-Chairs
TMTR MEETING - November 16, 2020, 9:30am-12:30pm
Training by Mark W. Batchelder
Mark W. Batchelder will show how to use Google Drive and Google Docs to create and sign collaborative documents online free of charge. During the presentation, we will all work on documents together simultaneously. This method can be used in mediation for Agreements to Mediate or Mediated Settlement Agreements. This method can also be used for Sign-In Sheets and other documents for trainings or meetings. It will be best for you to use a computer rather than a smart phone during this presentation.
Here is the link to a shared Google Drive folder set up by Mark which contains sample documents for the presentation:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1V3ziFiVT6oqctVVw-syPwfMmAT58Fyuz?usp=sharing
Mark W. Batchelder, J.D., is an attorney (since 1987) in Fort Worth, Texas, who is also a musician, a professional guitar instructor, the Executive Director of Community Music Connection - a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization, a member of the band - Panther City Rounders, a qualified mediator, a graduate-level mediation trainer, a former adjunct college professor, the President of the Tarrant County Association of Mediators, a licensed pilot, and a devoted husband and proud father. Along with Bob Good, Mark was a founding partner of Mediation Dynamics in 2000 and Mark is now the owner and principal instructor.
Business Meeting
TMTR Officers and Directors elected for 2021 & 2022:
Co-Convener: Melissa Back McAlpine
Co-Convener: Char Wittenberg
Treasurer: Dr. Barbara Manousso
Secretary: Barbara Allen
Parliamentarian: Mark W. Batchelder
By Mark W. Batchelder
Training by Mark W. Batchelder
Mark W. Batchelder will show how to use Google Drive and Google Docs to create and sign collaborative documents online free of charge. During the presentation, we will all work on documents together simultaneously. This method can be used in mediation for Agreements to Mediate or Mediated Settlement Agreements. This method can also be used for Sign-In Sheets and other documents for trainings or meetings. It will be best for you to use a computer rather than a smart phone during this presentation.
Here is the link to a shared Google Drive folder set up by Mark which contains sample documents for the presentation:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1V3ziFiVT6oqctVVw-syPwfMmAT58Fyuz?usp=sharing
Mark W. Batchelder, J.D., is an attorney (since 1987) in Fort Worth, Texas, who is also a musician, a professional guitar instructor, the Executive Director of Community Music Connection - a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization, a member of the band - Panther City Rounders, a qualified mediator, a graduate-level mediation trainer, a former adjunct college professor, the President of the Tarrant County Association of Mediators, a licensed pilot, and a devoted husband and proud father. Along with Bob Good, Mark was a founding partner of Mediation Dynamics in 2000 and Mark is now the owner and principal instructor.
Business Meeting
TMTR Officers and Directors elected for 2021 & 2022:
Co-Convener: Melissa Back McAlpine
Co-Convener: Char Wittenberg
Treasurer: Dr. Barbara Manousso
Secretary: Barbara Allen
Parliamentarian: Mark W. Batchelder
By Mark W. Batchelder
TMTR Meeting - April 27, 2020 at 9:30am via Zoom
We hope you are staying safe during these difficult times! Please join us for our upcoming TMTR meeting online. We look forward to meeting with you!
Location:
Due to COVID-19, the meeting will be conducted via Zoom. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but feel this is the only way to conduct our meeting during the current health crisis. Please join the meeting via phone or web conferencing.
Training Agenda:
Instead of inviting a featured speaker/training to this meeting, we will be conducting an interactive discussion on online training platforms. Each member is invited to present their opinions with a 5-minute time limit. This is just a forum for discussion and no motions or votes will take place during this meeting.
Meeting Agenda Topics Include:
Open Executive Committee Position- Parliamentarian
Financial and Organizational Update
Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes
Formation of Planning Committee for Train-the-Trainer Workshop in 2021
Mark W. Batchelder was elected to be the Parliamentarian of TMTR (a position that is one of the officers of TMTR on the Executive Committee) and consequently also a Director of TMTR (a member of the TMTR Board of Directors).
We hope you are staying safe during these difficult times! Please join us for our upcoming TMTR meeting online. We look forward to meeting with you!
Location:
Due to COVID-19, the meeting will be conducted via Zoom. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but feel this is the only way to conduct our meeting during the current health crisis. Please join the meeting via phone or web conferencing.
Training Agenda:
Instead of inviting a featured speaker/training to this meeting, we will be conducting an interactive discussion on online training platforms. Each member is invited to present their opinions with a 5-minute time limit. This is just a forum for discussion and no motions or votes will take place during this meeting.
Meeting Agenda Topics Include:
Open Executive Committee Position- Parliamentarian
Financial and Organizational Update
Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes
Formation of Planning Committee for Train-the-Trainer Workshop in 2021
Mark W. Batchelder was elected to be the Parliamentarian of TMTR (a position that is one of the officers of TMTR on the Executive Committee) and consequently also a Director of TMTR (a member of the TMTR Board of Directors).
December 17, 2019 - Training and Meeting
10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Location: Boonville Training Center (Courtesy of RRG) 2490 Boonville Road, Bryan, TX 77808
(Please note: This is a training center on the second floor of the building. There is a counseling center on the first floor.)
Meeting Training and Agenda:
Technology and the Modern Mediator
- Presented by Jennifer Searles and Tori Ellis
Meeting Agenda Topics Include:
TMTR Structure and Financial Update
Open Committee Positions
2020 Calendar and Meeting Locations
We will be launching a Pilot Program for Video Conferencing at the Meetings. If you cannot attend in person, you should be able to join the business meeting via conferencing.
By Barbara Manousso
10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Location: Boonville Training Center (Courtesy of RRG) 2490 Boonville Road, Bryan, TX 77808
(Please note: This is a training center on the second floor of the building. There is a counseling center on the first floor.)
Meeting Training and Agenda:
Technology and the Modern Mediator
- Presented by Jennifer Searles and Tori Ellis
Meeting Agenda Topics Include:
TMTR Structure and Financial Update
Open Committee Positions
2020 Calendar and Meeting Locations
We will be launching a Pilot Program for Video Conferencing at the Meetings. If you cannot attend in person, you should be able to join the business meeting via conferencing.
By Barbara Manousso
TMTR 2019 TRAIN THE TRAINER EVENT
TMTR’s 2019 Train-the-Trainer Workshop!
Date: Thursday, February 28, 2019
Time: 1:00pm – 4:30pm
Location: ACU Dallas Campus: 16633 Dallas Parkway, Suite 800, Addison, TX 75001 (minutes from TAM hotel)
Deal or No Deal! Negotiation Trends:
About Our 2019 TMTR Speaker – Dr. Habib Chamoun-Nicolas
Over the past 25 years, Dr. Chamoun – Nicolas has been conducting negotiation and business development activities in diversified sectors, oil and gas, mining and metals industry, petroleum, petrochemical, chemical, industrial, commercial, institutional, for the sales and marketing of services and products. Among the companies he worked for are ELF Aquitaine (Total), ICA Fluor Daniel, Brown and Root. Dr. Chamoun has trained thousands business professionals on a Business Development Approach on sales and negotiation and has conducted research on How Mexicans and other cultures Negotiate. Dr. Chamoun has designed a program to train a group of Beijing International Airport Manager for cross-cultural negotiations at the University of Houston on preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Dr. Chamoun has participated as a negotiation judge in May 2011 at a Chinese International Negotiation competition at Beijing University.
Dr. Chamoun has trained and coached in Negotiations Mexican Companies with their German counterpart such as Parklane in Frankfurt. Dr. Chamoun has been a professional negotiation coach also for European companies doing business in Russia, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and other countries.
He is also part of the executive committee of the Negotiation Academy at Postdam University. He has presented several conferences in Negotiations in Berlin, Frankfurt, and at The European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel as well as helping doing research on International Contract Negotiations between Ecuadorians and Germans at the University of Hohenheim. Dr. Chamoun is a member of the Scientific Committee for the Biennale in Negotiations of 2014 and 2016 of NOVANCIA Business School of PARIS.
Dr. Chamoun has trained on negotiations thousands of participants from different corners of the World: Germany, Saudi Arabia, Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Barbados, Bermuda, 2 Brazil, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, Russia, Ukraine, USA, France, Finland, Canada, England, Ireland, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Switzerland, Poland, Slovakia, Macedonia, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Norway, Panama, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Kosovo, Equatorial Guinee among others.
TMTR’s 2019 Train-the-Trainer Workshop!
Date: Thursday, February 28, 2019
Time: 1:00pm – 4:30pm
Location: ACU Dallas Campus: 16633 Dallas Parkway, Suite 800, Addison, TX 75001 (minutes from TAM hotel)
Deal or No Deal! Negotiation Trends:
- Learn the Deal Methodology – Tradeables
- The Secret of the Most Famous Negotiators of History – The Phoenicians
- How to Negotiate like a Master
- Negotiation Exercises for Trainings
About Our 2019 TMTR Speaker – Dr. Habib Chamoun-Nicolas
Over the past 25 years, Dr. Chamoun – Nicolas has been conducting negotiation and business development activities in diversified sectors, oil and gas, mining and metals industry, petroleum, petrochemical, chemical, industrial, commercial, institutional, for the sales and marketing of services and products. Among the companies he worked for are ELF Aquitaine (Total), ICA Fluor Daniel, Brown and Root. Dr. Chamoun has trained thousands business professionals on a Business Development Approach on sales and negotiation and has conducted research on How Mexicans and other cultures Negotiate. Dr. Chamoun has designed a program to train a group of Beijing International Airport Manager for cross-cultural negotiations at the University of Houston on preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Dr. Chamoun has participated as a negotiation judge in May 2011 at a Chinese International Negotiation competition at Beijing University.
Dr. Chamoun has trained and coached in Negotiations Mexican Companies with their German counterpart such as Parklane in Frankfurt. Dr. Chamoun has been a professional negotiation coach also for European companies doing business in Russia, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and other countries.
He is also part of the executive committee of the Negotiation Academy at Postdam University. He has presented several conferences in Negotiations in Berlin, Frankfurt, and at The European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel as well as helping doing research on International Contract Negotiations between Ecuadorians and Germans at the University of Hohenheim. Dr. Chamoun is a member of the Scientific Committee for the Biennale in Negotiations of 2014 and 2016 of NOVANCIA Business School of PARIS.
Dr. Chamoun has trained on negotiations thousands of participants from different corners of the World: Germany, Saudi Arabia, Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Barbados, Bermuda, 2 Brazil, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, Russia, Ukraine, USA, France, Finland, Canada, England, Ireland, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Switzerland, Poland, Slovakia, Macedonia, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Norway, Panama, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Kosovo, Equatorial Guinee among others.
Dr. Chamoun-Nicolas graduated with a Post Doctoral Degree working with Elf-Aquitaine (TOTAL) Production in France, from University of Texas at Austin with a PhD. And masters in Science from the Petroleum and Chemical Departments and with a Bachelor in Science of Chemical Engineering and Business Administration from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and has participated in several special executive programs, such as the Program on Negotiation at Harvard University and the Brazilian Seminar at the International School of Business at the University of South Carolina.
Dr. Chamoun has participated early on his professional career on a program equivalent to an “Executive MBA hands on experience” called “Marketing Associates” with Fluor Daniel in Irvine, California. Dr. Chamoun has also been an invited guest speaker and instructor at several universities: Thunderbird School of International Business in the GLOBAL MBA program, MBOC at the University of Texas, PANAM, University of Texas Dallas Cohort MBA program, and the University of Houston on Negotiation and Business development related topics. Dr. Chamoun has participated as a professor at the Virtual University of the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico. The Autonomous University of Honduras, Business International School of San Pedro Sula and Catholic University of Guayaquil Ecuador is among the Central and Latin America Universities where he has taught negotiation.
Monterrey Institute of Technology has invited Dr. Chamoun as an academic leader in the subject of negotiations since 2008 to teach professors, students and the community leaders in several campuses in Mexico.
He is the author of many articles on negotiation and the books: “Desarrollo de Negocios”, in its 3rd edition and “Trato Hecho-Guía para una Negociación sin Fallas” 2nd edition and Deal 3rd edition. Negotiate Like a Phoenician, 2008 and Trasciende Quo Vadis Negociador, 2016.
A partial list of his commercial and industrial clients includes: Metalsa, Pemex Procurement International, Sinopec (Chinese Oil Company), Exxon Mobil, Marathon Oil Company, Halliburton, Dynasol (Repsol / Grupo Desc), Shell Oil, Baxter, FLS Krebs, Atlatec, Ternium, Techint, Telmex, Telcel, Axtel (Bell Canada), Maxcom, Sears, Banorte, Banrural, Jugos del Valle, USA, Bimbo Snacks, USA, T-Systems International, AMECO (equipment branch of Fluor Daniel Corp), AIT Group Mexico, Grace Davison, RSM BEPAM, Santa Marina y Esteta Abogados, Henkel, Celanese, Procter and Gamble, CAIC, Franklin Covey and others.
Dr. Chamoun is a member of the advisory board of the Frank Evans Centre for Conflict Resolution at the South Texas School of Law. Also, he is a board member of the American College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, Genesys, ITS, and the CELH (Chamber of Latin entrepreneurs of Houston).
Dr. Chamoun has been honoured as the writer of the year 2006 at the 4th Hispanic Book Festival of Houston and he has been appointed by Major Bill White of Houston as a Council member of the Mayor’s International Affairs & Development Council of the Americas. Dr. Habib Chamoun-Nicolas was awarded with the title of honorary professor at the Faculty of entrepreneurial specialties at the Catholic University of Santiago de Guayaquil.
Dr. Chamoun has participated early on his professional career on a program equivalent to an “Executive MBA hands on experience” called “Marketing Associates” with Fluor Daniel in Irvine, California. Dr. Chamoun has also been an invited guest speaker and instructor at several universities: Thunderbird School of International Business in the GLOBAL MBA program, MBOC at the University of Texas, PANAM, University of Texas Dallas Cohort MBA program, and the University of Houston on Negotiation and Business development related topics. Dr. Chamoun has participated as a professor at the Virtual University of the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico. The Autonomous University of Honduras, Business International School of San Pedro Sula and Catholic University of Guayaquil Ecuador is among the Central and Latin America Universities where he has taught negotiation.
Monterrey Institute of Technology has invited Dr. Chamoun as an academic leader in the subject of negotiations since 2008 to teach professors, students and the community leaders in several campuses in Mexico.
He is the author of many articles on negotiation and the books: “Desarrollo de Negocios”, in its 3rd edition and “Trato Hecho-Guía para una Negociación sin Fallas” 2nd edition and Deal 3rd edition. Negotiate Like a Phoenician, 2008 and Trasciende Quo Vadis Negociador, 2016.
A partial list of his commercial and industrial clients includes: Metalsa, Pemex Procurement International, Sinopec (Chinese Oil Company), Exxon Mobil, Marathon Oil Company, Halliburton, Dynasol (Repsol / Grupo Desc), Shell Oil, Baxter, FLS Krebs, Atlatec, Ternium, Techint, Telmex, Telcel, Axtel (Bell Canada), Maxcom, Sears, Banorte, Banrural, Jugos del Valle, USA, Bimbo Snacks, USA, T-Systems International, AMECO (equipment branch of Fluor Daniel Corp), AIT Group Mexico, Grace Davison, RSM BEPAM, Santa Marina y Esteta Abogados, Henkel, Celanese, Procter and Gamble, CAIC, Franklin Covey and others.
Dr. Chamoun is a member of the advisory board of the Frank Evans Centre for Conflict Resolution at the South Texas School of Law. Also, he is a board member of the American College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, Genesys, ITS, and the CELH (Chamber of Latin entrepreneurs of Houston).
Dr. Chamoun has been honoured as the writer of the year 2006 at the 4th Hispanic Book Festival of Houston and he has been appointed by Major Bill White of Houston as a Council member of the Mayor’s International Affairs & Development Council of the Americas. Dr. Habib Chamoun-Nicolas was awarded with the title of honorary professor at the Faculty of entrepreneurial specialties at the Catholic University of Santiago de Guayaquil.
Dr. Chamoun also was awarded the title of negotiation visiting professor at IDE Business 3 School in Guayaquil Ecuador. He received an award as the first distinguished Citizen of his hometown (Nueva Rosita, Coahuila) in Mexico by the city mayor. Dr. Chamoun has received in PARIS in 2010 the Golden Cedar Award for his book Négociez comme un Phénicien recently publishes in French.
He is an adjunct business professor and member of the advisory board at St. Thomas University Cameron School of Business in Houston and Member of the Academic Senate and business professor at IMADEC University in Vienna, Austria. The areas of interest of teaching at executive MBA programs and professional development programs are negotiation and conflict resolution, persuasion, sales and cross-cultural communications, soft-skills for entrepreneurship.
Dr. Chamoun has been invited as an Academic Leader for negotiation to different universities in Mexico such as Tec de Monterrey Queretaro, Saltillo, Leon, Torreon, Irapuato and many more.
Dr. Chamoun is also a lecturer at the McCombs Business School of the University of Texas in the subject of negotiations. In 2013, Dr. Chamoun became an “Athene’s” member of the Ateneo of Cadiz, Spain in recognition of his work. In 2014, Dr. Chamoun received the appointment of honorary member of the Honourable Consular Corps of Guayaquil Ecuador. In 2016, Dr. Chamoun received the Cedar of Lebanon recognition for his work from Ambassador of Lebanon in Argentina, Antonio Andary.
By Melissa Back McAlpine
He is an adjunct business professor and member of the advisory board at St. Thomas University Cameron School of Business in Houston and Member of the Academic Senate and business professor at IMADEC University in Vienna, Austria. The areas of interest of teaching at executive MBA programs and professional development programs are negotiation and conflict resolution, persuasion, sales and cross-cultural communications, soft-skills for entrepreneurship.
Dr. Chamoun has been invited as an Academic Leader for negotiation to different universities in Mexico such as Tec de Monterrey Queretaro, Saltillo, Leon, Torreon, Irapuato and many more.
Dr. Chamoun is also a lecturer at the McCombs Business School of the University of Texas in the subject of negotiations. In 2013, Dr. Chamoun became an “Athene’s” member of the Ateneo of Cadiz, Spain in recognition of his work. In 2014, Dr. Chamoun received the appointment of honorary member of the Honourable Consular Corps of Guayaquil Ecuador. In 2016, Dr. Chamoun received the Cedar of Lebanon recognition for his work from Ambassador of Lebanon in Argentina, Antonio Andary.
By Melissa Back McAlpine
JUNE MEETING
Date: Monday, June 4, 2018, 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Location: Dispute Resolution Center 5407 IH-35, Suite 410, Austin, Texas
Meeting Training and Agenda:
Training:
Safety and Situational Awareness in the Mediation Setting – Presented by Peter Wittenberg
This presentation will focus on methods and procedures necessary to provide a safe and secure environment for mediators and parties. Room set-up, parties’ behavioral cues, safety procedures which provides security/safety to parties and mediators at the conclusion of the mediation, and discussion of “best practices” for working in a high conflict environment and other relevant issues will be addressed.
Meeting Agenda Topics Include:
Discussion from TMCA regarding the 4-hours “Texas Component” of the mediation short course.
Online Mediation Training
Elder Mediation Training Standards
CPS Mediation Training Standards
By Barbara Manousso
Date: Monday, June 4, 2018, 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Location: Dispute Resolution Center 5407 IH-35, Suite 410, Austin, Texas
Meeting Training and Agenda:
Training:
Safety and Situational Awareness in the Mediation Setting – Presented by Peter Wittenberg
This presentation will focus on methods and procedures necessary to provide a safe and secure environment for mediators and parties. Room set-up, parties’ behavioral cues, safety procedures which provides security/safety to parties and mediators at the conclusion of the mediation, and discussion of “best practices” for working in a high conflict environment and other relevant issues will be addressed.
Meeting Agenda Topics Include:
Discussion from TMCA regarding the 4-hours “Texas Component” of the mediation short course.
Online Mediation Training
Elder Mediation Training Standards
CPS Mediation Training Standards
By Barbara Manousso
2018 TRAIN THE TRAINER
TMTR’s 2018 Train the Trainer Event!
About Our 2018 TMTR Speaker – Shelly Skeen, Esq
Ms. Shelly L. Skeen practices complex commercial litigation, representing businesses across the country in commercial litigation disputes in state and federal trial courts, appellate courts and in arbitrations.
After graduating magna cum laude from law school, Shelly began her law practice as a Briefing Attorney for a Texas State Appellate Court of Appeals. Shelly has been a mediator since 2001, earned a Diploma in International Arbitration, and achieved a “Fellow” designation from the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in London (CIArb), making her one of less than 475 lawyers in the U.S. holding the Fellow designation. Shelly also handles online free speech, business disparagement and defamation cases as well as probate, guardianship and estate planning for individuals and families, including LGBT individuals and families.
Shelly has appeared before the United States Supreme Court, appeared and argued successfully before the Texas Supreme Court, appeared and argued before the 5th – 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, United States District Courts in Texas, Michigan and Illinois, and several Texas State Appellate Courts.
Shelly had the distinguished honor to serve as a Council Member, Vice President, and Former Chair of a LGBT Law Section for the State Bar of Texas. She is the President of the Dallas LGBT Bar Association, and board member of the Coalition for Aging, LGBT, where she served as the Co-Chair of the Policy & Legislative Advocacy Committee.
Shelly was appointed by the President of the State Bar of Texas to serve a three (3) year term on the State Bar of Texas’ CLE Committee. Shelly is also frequent speaker and author and is adjunct faculty for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy where she teaches trial skills to lawyers. She also teaches the Members program for CIArb.
Shelly is the recipient of the State Bar of Texas’ 2016 Franklin Jones Award for the Best Continuing Legal Education Article as voted by her peers. In 2017, Shelly was a speaker at the TMCA Symposium.
Shelly has been accepted into an LL.M. program in law and sexuality at UCLA School of Law where she hopes to graduate by May 2018.
By Barbara Manousso
TMTR’s 2018 Train the Trainer Event!
About Our 2018 TMTR Speaker – Shelly Skeen, Esq
Ms. Shelly L. Skeen practices complex commercial litigation, representing businesses across the country in commercial litigation disputes in state and federal trial courts, appellate courts and in arbitrations.
After graduating magna cum laude from law school, Shelly began her law practice as a Briefing Attorney for a Texas State Appellate Court of Appeals. Shelly has been a mediator since 2001, earned a Diploma in International Arbitration, and achieved a “Fellow” designation from the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in London (CIArb), making her one of less than 475 lawyers in the U.S. holding the Fellow designation. Shelly also handles online free speech, business disparagement and defamation cases as well as probate, guardianship and estate planning for individuals and families, including LGBT individuals and families.
Shelly has appeared before the United States Supreme Court, appeared and argued successfully before the Texas Supreme Court, appeared and argued before the 5th – 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, United States District Courts in Texas, Michigan and Illinois, and several Texas State Appellate Courts.
Shelly had the distinguished honor to serve as a Council Member, Vice President, and Former Chair of a LGBT Law Section for the State Bar of Texas. She is the President of the Dallas LGBT Bar Association, and board member of the Coalition for Aging, LGBT, where she served as the Co-Chair of the Policy & Legislative Advocacy Committee.
Shelly was appointed by the President of the State Bar of Texas to serve a three (3) year term on the State Bar of Texas’ CLE Committee. Shelly is also frequent speaker and author and is adjunct faculty for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy where she teaches trial skills to lawyers. She also teaches the Members program for CIArb.
Shelly is the recipient of the State Bar of Texas’ 2016 Franklin Jones Award for the Best Continuing Legal Education Article as voted by her peers. In 2017, Shelly was a speaker at the TMCA Symposium.
Shelly has been accepted into an LL.M. program in law and sexuality at UCLA School of Law where she hopes to graduate by May 2018.
By Barbara Manousso
HIGH CONFLICT INSTITUTE’S BILLY EDDY
PROVIDES 2017 TRAIN THE TRAINER
February 23, 2017, 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Texas Mediation Trainers Roundtable announces Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq. as the 2017 speaker for the annual Train the Trainer event. Mr. Eddy will present Training Trainers with High-Conflict Mediation Skills. This four-hour training will be held from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Drury Inn & Suites San Antonio Northwest Medical Center (conveniently located seven miles from the Eilan Hotel Resort & Spa where the Texas Association of Mediators will hold its annual conference on February 24 & 25).
Training Trainers with High-Conflict Mediation Skills
This session will focus on trainers teaching seven skills for managing high-conflict mediation. There will be brief explanations (some with video clips), role-play practice exercises and discussion. Practice is important, especially for dealing with high-conflict client resistance and demands. Three of these specific skills are applied repeatedly by the mediator: CONNECTING with Empathy, Attention and Respect (EAR Statements); STRUCTURING the process to limit storytelling and focus on the future; and EDUCATING the parties about their options. Four skills for clients involve: asking more questions, making agendas, making and responding to proposals, and making (and revising) their decisions.
About Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq.
Bill Eddy is a lawyer, therapist, mediator and the President of High Conflict Institute. He developed the “High Conflict Personality” theory (HCP Theory) and has become an international expert on managing disputes involving high conflict personalities and personality disorders. He provides training on this subject to lawyers, judges, mediators, managers, human resource professionals, businesspersons, healthcare administrators, college administrators, homeowners’ association managers, ombudspersons, law enforcement, therapists and others. He has been a speaker and trainer in over 25 states, several provinces in Canada, Australia, France and Sweden.
As an attorney, Bill is a Certified Family Law Specialist in California and the Senior Family Mediator at the National Conflict Resolution Center in San Diego. Prior to becoming an attorney in 1992, he was a Licensed Clinical Social worker with twelve years’ experience providing therapy to children, adults, couples and families in psychiatric hospitals and outpatient clinics. He has taught Negotiation and Mediation at the University of San Diego School of Law for six years and he is on the part-time faculty of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at the Pepperdine University School of Law and the National Judicial College.
He is the author of numerous articles and several books, including:
He is also the developer of the “New Ways for Families” method of managing potentially high conflict families in and out of family court. He is currently developing a method for managing potentially high conflict employees titled “New Ways for Work.”
By Barbara Manousso
PROVIDES 2017 TRAIN THE TRAINER
February 23, 2017, 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Texas Mediation Trainers Roundtable announces Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq. as the 2017 speaker for the annual Train the Trainer event. Mr. Eddy will present Training Trainers with High-Conflict Mediation Skills. This four-hour training will be held from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Drury Inn & Suites San Antonio Northwest Medical Center (conveniently located seven miles from the Eilan Hotel Resort & Spa where the Texas Association of Mediators will hold its annual conference on February 24 & 25).
Training Trainers with High-Conflict Mediation Skills
This session will focus on trainers teaching seven skills for managing high-conflict mediation. There will be brief explanations (some with video clips), role-play practice exercises and discussion. Practice is important, especially for dealing with high-conflict client resistance and demands. Three of these specific skills are applied repeatedly by the mediator: CONNECTING with Empathy, Attention and Respect (EAR Statements); STRUCTURING the process to limit storytelling and focus on the future; and EDUCATING the parties about their options. Four skills for clients involve: asking more questions, making agendas, making and responding to proposals, and making (and revising) their decisions.
About Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq.
Bill Eddy is a lawyer, therapist, mediator and the President of High Conflict Institute. He developed the “High Conflict Personality” theory (HCP Theory) and has become an international expert on managing disputes involving high conflict personalities and personality disorders. He provides training on this subject to lawyers, judges, mediators, managers, human resource professionals, businesspersons, healthcare administrators, college administrators, homeowners’ association managers, ombudspersons, law enforcement, therapists and others. He has been a speaker and trainer in over 25 states, several provinces in Canada, Australia, France and Sweden.
As an attorney, Bill is a Certified Family Law Specialist in California and the Senior Family Mediator at the National Conflict Resolution Center in San Diego. Prior to becoming an attorney in 1992, he was a Licensed Clinical Social worker with twelve years’ experience providing therapy to children, adults, couples and families in psychiatric hospitals and outpatient clinics. He has taught Negotiation and Mediation at the University of San Diego School of Law for six years and he is on the part-time faculty of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at the Pepperdine University School of Law and the National Judicial College.
He is the author of numerous articles and several books, including:
- High Conflict People in Legal Disputes
- It’s All YOUR Fault! 12 Tips for Managing People Who Blame Others for Everything
- SPLITTING: Protecting Yourself While Divorcing Someone with Borderline or Narcissistic Personality Disorder
- BIFF: Quick Responses to High Conflict People, Their Personal Attacks, Hostile Email and Social Media Meltdowns
He is also the developer of the “New Ways for Families” method of managing potentially high conflict families in and out of family court. He is currently developing a method for managing potentially high conflict employees titled “New Ways for Work.”
By Barbara Manousso
WITTENBERG DEBUNKS MYTHS ABOUT
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
November 7, 2016 – Austin
Quarterly Meeting
10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Location
Dispute Resolution Center
5407 N I H 35 # 41
Austin, TX 78723
Domestic Violence: Debunking the Myths
by Char F. Wittenberg
This presentation shares information regarding the myths associated with domestic violence and abuse. Also discussed will be understanding what is domestic violence, warning signs, effects on children, what prevents victims from leaving, safety planning and stopping abuse.
Char Wittenberg, DPA, MA, MS
Business Meeting Agenda
By Barbara Manousso
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
November 7, 2016 – Austin
Quarterly Meeting
10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Location
Dispute Resolution Center
5407 N I H 35 # 41
Austin, TX 78723
Domestic Violence: Debunking the Myths
by Char F. Wittenberg
This presentation shares information regarding the myths associated with domestic violence and abuse. Also discussed will be understanding what is domestic violence, warning signs, effects on children, what prevents victims from leaving, safety planning and stopping abuse.
Char Wittenberg, DPA, MA, MS
Business Meeting Agenda
- Welcome & Introductions
- Review meeting norms
- Review/adopt the minutes
- Treasurer’s report
- Membership update
- TMCA
- Training verifications
- Elder Mediation Standards – discussion & possible decision
- Train-the-Trainer
By Barbara Manousso
HAWTHORN SPEAKS ON DRC TRENDS
September 12, 2016 – Austin
Quarterly Meeting
10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Location
Dispute Resolution Center
5407 N I H 35 # 410, Austin, TX 78723
From Our Perspective: Trends and Topics Affecting A Dispute Resolution Center by Kara Hawthorn
This training explores mediation issues and trends facing a Community Mediation Center. Overcoming conflict, dealing with difficult people, keeping parties on topic, and attorney mediators vs. non-attorney mediators are some of the issues covered in this training session.
Kara Hawthorn is the Executive Director of the Dispute Resolution Center of Jefferson County in Beaumont. The DRC is a department of Jefferson County and provides mediation for cases filed in County Court, District Court, and Federal Court, as well as community cases. The DRC mediates cases from Jefferson and fourteen other counties. Kara mediates civil, family, juvenile victim-offender, and Child Protective Services cases. She serves as an Independent Individualized Education Program Facilitator. Kara has also served as a certified Ombudsman through the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services as an Advocate for Long-Term Care Residents. Kara is a mediation trainer focusing on Basic, Family, and Juvenile Victim-Offender education.
By Barbara Manousso
September 12, 2016 – Austin
Quarterly Meeting
10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Location
Dispute Resolution Center
5407 N I H 35 # 410, Austin, TX 78723
From Our Perspective: Trends and Topics Affecting A Dispute Resolution Center by Kara Hawthorn
This training explores mediation issues and trends facing a Community Mediation Center. Overcoming conflict, dealing with difficult people, keeping parties on topic, and attorney mediators vs. non-attorney mediators are some of the issues covered in this training session.
Kara Hawthorn is the Executive Director of the Dispute Resolution Center of Jefferson County in Beaumont. The DRC is a department of Jefferson County and provides mediation for cases filed in County Court, District Court, and Federal Court, as well as community cases. The DRC mediates cases from Jefferson and fourteen other counties. Kara mediates civil, family, juvenile victim-offender, and Child Protective Services cases. She serves as an Independent Individualized Education Program Facilitator. Kara has also served as a certified Ombudsman through the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services as an Advocate for Long-Term Care Residents. Kara is a mediation trainer focusing on Basic, Family, and Juvenile Victim-Offender education.
By Barbara Manousso
MINK ON ENGAGING ADULT LEARNERS
May 9, 2016 – Austin
Quarterly Meeting
10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Location: Austin ISD Performing Arts Center
1500 Barbara Jordan Blvd, Austin, Texas 78723
Engaging Adult Learners by Dr. Barbara Mink
Since 1978, Dr. Mink has been a professor in the School of Human and Organization Development (HOD) at the Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, CA. She teaches and supervises doctoral students in the areas of organizational theories, management and leadership systems, and learning and motivation. She also served as the dean of the HOD Program from 1997 to 2001. Dr. Mink served a three-year term on the Board of Trustees of the Fielding Graduate University where she was a member of the Board Executive Committee and was Chair, Board Committee on Diversity and Social Justice. She is also a lecturer in the Department of Educational Administration at The University of Texas at Austin. Additionally, she currently on the Austin Community College District Board of Trustees.
Dr. Mink has more than 35 years of international consulting experience in the areas of leadership development and the design and implementation of organizational change. She has worked with clients in the fields of manufacturing, health care, education, government, communications technology, and banking.
Dr. Mink’s honors include being elected to Pi Mu Epsilon (mathematics honorary) and the Board of Directors of the Human Resource Planning Society. She has been listed in Outstanding Educators of America, Who’s Who in American Women, and Who’s Who in the South and Southwest. She served on the Board of Trustees of the Texas Association of Community College Trustees and Administrators (TACCTA). She has also been President of TACCTA. She is currently on the Board of Directors of Envision Central Texas.
Dr. Mink has also poetry and creative writing awards in Texas writing competitions and is currently the President of her northeast Austin neighborhood association.
By Barbara Manousso
May 9, 2016 – Austin
Quarterly Meeting
10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Location: Austin ISD Performing Arts Center
1500 Barbara Jordan Blvd, Austin, Texas 78723
Engaging Adult Learners by Dr. Barbara Mink
Since 1978, Dr. Mink has been a professor in the School of Human and Organization Development (HOD) at the Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, CA. She teaches and supervises doctoral students in the areas of organizational theories, management and leadership systems, and learning and motivation. She also served as the dean of the HOD Program from 1997 to 2001. Dr. Mink served a three-year term on the Board of Trustees of the Fielding Graduate University where she was a member of the Board Executive Committee and was Chair, Board Committee on Diversity and Social Justice. She is also a lecturer in the Department of Educational Administration at The University of Texas at Austin. Additionally, she currently on the Austin Community College District Board of Trustees.
Dr. Mink has more than 35 years of international consulting experience in the areas of leadership development and the design and implementation of organizational change. She has worked with clients in the fields of manufacturing, health care, education, government, communications technology, and banking.
Dr. Mink’s honors include being elected to Pi Mu Epsilon (mathematics honorary) and the Board of Directors of the Human Resource Planning Society. She has been listed in Outstanding Educators of America, Who’s Who in American Women, and Who’s Who in the South and Southwest. She served on the Board of Trustees of the Texas Association of Community College Trustees and Administrators (TACCTA). She has also been President of TACCTA. She is currently on the Board of Directors of Envision Central Texas.
Dr. Mink has also poetry and creative writing awards in Texas writing competitions and is currently the President of her northeast Austin neighborhood association.
By Barbara Manousso
BARNES PRESENTS AT 2016 TRAIN THE TRAINER
February 24, 2016, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Texas Mediation Trainers Roundtable presented its 2016 Train the Trainer in Houston, Texas with Richard Barnes. Mr. Barnes presented Strategic Negotiation Skills: A Tutorial for Teaching in the Emilie Slohm Dining Room on 6th floor of The Fred Parks Law Library at South Texas College of Law.
Location: Emilie Slohm Dining Room
6th floor of The Fred Parks Law Library at South Texas College of Law
1303 San Jacinto St, Houston, TX 77002
Strategic Negotiation Skills: A Tutorial for Teaching with Richard Barnes
Not many of us are actually responsible for the intense complexities of high stakes negotiations. But, when challenged to negotiate any issue with an employee, employer, colleague, client, are you overwhelmed? Can you hear others clearly and respond appropriately? When negotiating, do you seek to gain cooperation or to seize control? Do you avoid difficult negotiation situations including those in your personal relationships…or collaborate through thoughtful and diplomatic interactions?
This session presents to the participants a framework into which they can place any negotiation that they engage. Instead of telling you what to do, the program helps you identify the critical moments in negotiation and how to make the strategic decisions that are most effective. Each participant will leave with the advanced language of professional negotiation, the negotiation framework that includes both distributive and integrative techniques as well as key strategies to use in the settlement of even the most difficult multi-party cases.
This train-the-trainer program will blend lecture, group discussion, and exercises that will assist the participants in the design of future training aids.
About Richard Barnes
C. Richard Barnes & Associates, LLC is a labor relations consulting firm which provides representation, dispute resolution services, dispute resolution systems design, workforce training and development and leadership coaching to a cross-section of industry, labor, private, public and service organizations, both nationally and internationally.
Prior to forming C. Richard Barnes & Associates, LLC, Richard Barnes was the Executive Director of the Center for the Workplace at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. For seventeen years preceding his tenure at Georgia State, Richard served as a Federal Mediator with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), with seven of those years in executive management.
In 1998, President Clinton appointed Richard to serve as the 14th Director of FMCS. Once confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he became the first career mediator in FMCS history to receive both the Presidential Appointment and Senate Confirmation, a testament to his vast experience in labor management relations, strategic negotiations and dispute resolution processes. His second Presidential Appointment to the National Partnership Council again recognized his commitment and expertise in developing and implementing positive workplace change initiatives.
As Director of FMCS, Richard was responsible for the management of our nation’s Federal Mediators in all fifty states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Panama Canal. As both Director and Deputy Director, he led mediation teams that resolved some of our nation’s most significant, intense and protracted labor-management disputes. In recent years, these included complex bargaining between the 185,000 members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the United Parcel Service; the International Association of Machinists and the Kennedy Space Center; the California Nurses Association and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals; and The Boeing Company and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aviation and the FMCS mediation team that resolved the West Coast Ports dispute between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union. Most recently, Richard successfully mediated the high profile dispute between the Chicago Plumbers Association and the UA Local 130’s 3,500 Plumbers in the City of Chicago.
In his early years with FMCS, Richard served as the Alternative Dispute Resolution Coordinator and as Preventive Mediation Coordinator for the Southern Region of the U.S. During his tenure as the Alternative Dispute Resolution Coordinator, he conducted complex multi-party regulatory negotiations, including the West Tennessee Tributary Project, Native American Self-Determination Projects and commercial dispute resolution issues involving the Panama Canal. Richard was subsequently selected as the FMCS District Director for the Atlanta District and soon promoted to Southern Regional Director. Shortly thereafter, he was selected as the Deputy Director for Field Operations in Washington, D.C. and in this position played a pivotal role in the strategic redirection of FMCS, a five-year reinvention process that realigned the agency, its services and personnel, to meet the changing needs of the labor relations and conflict resolution communities throughout the United States.
Prior to his mediation career, Richard was an International Representative with the Laborers’ International Union of North America, AFL-CIO for 16 years. As a labor representative, he negotiated in excess of 300 labor agreements spanning thirty-five separate industries.
Throughout both public and private sectors, Richard is an internationally recognized mediator, facilitator, skills trainer and speaker. He serves as the facilitator for the Construction Users Roundtable’s (CURT) Tripartite Initiative, an unprecedented forum of construction industry leaders from the owner’s community, national trade organizations and organized labor. In addition, Richard is routinely called upon as a mediator in multi-party commercial disputes such as a recent mediation involving a complex water contamination dispute between the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Air Force at the Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Richard also advances the practice of dispute resolution in labor relations through his role as an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University’s Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution in Malibu, California, as a member of the Board of Advisors of the Institute for Conflict Management at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, as a visiting professor at the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, Arkansas and as an adjunct professor at Kennesaw State University’s Masters of Science in Conflict Resolution program. Richard serves as a provider for a significant number of NECA/IBEW Partnering Programs.
A native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Richard is a Vietnam era veteran of the U.S. Army and served as an instructor at the Medical Field Service School at Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. As a graduate of Antioch University and the George Meany Center for Labor Studies, he holds academic degrees in Labor and Industrial Relations. Richard and his wife Audrey reside in Atlanta, Georgia.
By Barbara Manousso
February 24, 2016, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Texas Mediation Trainers Roundtable presented its 2016 Train the Trainer in Houston, Texas with Richard Barnes. Mr. Barnes presented Strategic Negotiation Skills: A Tutorial for Teaching in the Emilie Slohm Dining Room on 6th floor of The Fred Parks Law Library at South Texas College of Law.
Location: Emilie Slohm Dining Room
6th floor of The Fred Parks Law Library at South Texas College of Law
1303 San Jacinto St, Houston, TX 77002
Strategic Negotiation Skills: A Tutorial for Teaching with Richard Barnes
Not many of us are actually responsible for the intense complexities of high stakes negotiations. But, when challenged to negotiate any issue with an employee, employer, colleague, client, are you overwhelmed? Can you hear others clearly and respond appropriately? When negotiating, do you seek to gain cooperation or to seize control? Do you avoid difficult negotiation situations including those in your personal relationships…or collaborate through thoughtful and diplomatic interactions?
This session presents to the participants a framework into which they can place any negotiation that they engage. Instead of telling you what to do, the program helps you identify the critical moments in negotiation and how to make the strategic decisions that are most effective. Each participant will leave with the advanced language of professional negotiation, the negotiation framework that includes both distributive and integrative techniques as well as key strategies to use in the settlement of even the most difficult multi-party cases.
This train-the-trainer program will blend lecture, group discussion, and exercises that will assist the participants in the design of future training aids.
About Richard Barnes
C. Richard Barnes & Associates, LLC is a labor relations consulting firm which provides representation, dispute resolution services, dispute resolution systems design, workforce training and development and leadership coaching to a cross-section of industry, labor, private, public and service organizations, both nationally and internationally.
Prior to forming C. Richard Barnes & Associates, LLC, Richard Barnes was the Executive Director of the Center for the Workplace at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. For seventeen years preceding his tenure at Georgia State, Richard served as a Federal Mediator with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), with seven of those years in executive management.
In 1998, President Clinton appointed Richard to serve as the 14th Director of FMCS. Once confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he became the first career mediator in FMCS history to receive both the Presidential Appointment and Senate Confirmation, a testament to his vast experience in labor management relations, strategic negotiations and dispute resolution processes. His second Presidential Appointment to the National Partnership Council again recognized his commitment and expertise in developing and implementing positive workplace change initiatives.
As Director of FMCS, Richard was responsible for the management of our nation’s Federal Mediators in all fifty states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Panama Canal. As both Director and Deputy Director, he led mediation teams that resolved some of our nation’s most significant, intense and protracted labor-management disputes. In recent years, these included complex bargaining between the 185,000 members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the United Parcel Service; the International Association of Machinists and the Kennedy Space Center; the California Nurses Association and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals; and The Boeing Company and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aviation and the FMCS mediation team that resolved the West Coast Ports dispute between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union. Most recently, Richard successfully mediated the high profile dispute between the Chicago Plumbers Association and the UA Local 130’s 3,500 Plumbers in the City of Chicago.
In his early years with FMCS, Richard served as the Alternative Dispute Resolution Coordinator and as Preventive Mediation Coordinator for the Southern Region of the U.S. During his tenure as the Alternative Dispute Resolution Coordinator, he conducted complex multi-party regulatory negotiations, including the West Tennessee Tributary Project, Native American Self-Determination Projects and commercial dispute resolution issues involving the Panama Canal. Richard was subsequently selected as the FMCS District Director for the Atlanta District and soon promoted to Southern Regional Director. Shortly thereafter, he was selected as the Deputy Director for Field Operations in Washington, D.C. and in this position played a pivotal role in the strategic redirection of FMCS, a five-year reinvention process that realigned the agency, its services and personnel, to meet the changing needs of the labor relations and conflict resolution communities throughout the United States.
Prior to his mediation career, Richard was an International Representative with the Laborers’ International Union of North America, AFL-CIO for 16 years. As a labor representative, he negotiated in excess of 300 labor agreements spanning thirty-five separate industries.
Throughout both public and private sectors, Richard is an internationally recognized mediator, facilitator, skills trainer and speaker. He serves as the facilitator for the Construction Users Roundtable’s (CURT) Tripartite Initiative, an unprecedented forum of construction industry leaders from the owner’s community, national trade organizations and organized labor. In addition, Richard is routinely called upon as a mediator in multi-party commercial disputes such as a recent mediation involving a complex water contamination dispute between the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Air Force at the Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Richard also advances the practice of dispute resolution in labor relations through his role as an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University’s Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution in Malibu, California, as a member of the Board of Advisors of the Institute for Conflict Management at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, as a visiting professor at the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, Arkansas and as an adjunct professor at Kennesaw State University’s Masters of Science in Conflict Resolution program. Richard serves as a provider for a significant number of NECA/IBEW Partnering Programs.
A native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Richard is a Vietnam era veteran of the U.S. Army and served as an instructor at the Medical Field Service School at Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. As a graduate of Antioch University and the George Meany Center for Labor Studies, he holds academic degrees in Labor and Industrial Relations. Richard and his wife Audrey reside in Atlanta, Georgia.
By Barbara Manousso
