Basic Family Mediation
In the last two decades, there has been a growing emphasis on alternative dispute resolution services to complement the court process and to assist families in resolving family law conflict after separation and divorce. The demand for family mediation is expected to increase with the recent changes to the Divorce Act. Expanding family mediation within family courts has the potential of increasing settlement options for families and helping families move more efficiently through the court process.
Learn at your own pace !
Basic Mediation Training is a generic family dispute resolution course 40-hours of training that includes, lectures, discussions, activities, role plays, video demonstrations and readings. The course will introduce participants to the basic skills, knowledge and competencies required to be an effective mediator. Topics will include the basics of conflict theory and conflict resolution, negotiation, communication, and basic mediation skills. The purpose of the workshop is to provide an introductory overview of conflict resolution principles, negotiation skills and mediation framework to provide participants with the foundation for effective mediation services.
What to expect
This workshop will identify a range of conflict resolution approaches, but will focus primarily on interest-based negotiations, techniques to resolve conflict, working with power imbalances and alternative dispute resolution strategies within the context of family law. Participants will also be introduced to several models of mediation that have been developed to engage with families (strategic, trauma-informed, therapeutic, solutions, narrative, and online approaches).
Meet your Instructor
Dr. Michael Saini’s scholarship addresses the intersections of law and social work and the advancement of children and families’ wellbeing in systems governed by law. Dr. Saini has generating new knowledge regarding the assessment of coparenting; the complexity of strained parent-child relationships; the impact of interparental conflict; the use of technology to support parent-child relationships; the crossover cases of child protection and child custody disputes; and social-work perspectives on law as socially embedded phenomena. Dr. Saini is a Board Member of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, an Associate Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers, Lifetime Member of Family Mediation Canada, Associate Member of Ontario Association of Family Mediation and an Editorial Board Member for the Family Court Review and the Journal of Divorce and Remarriage. Dr. Saini has over 200 publications, including books, book chapters, government reports, systematic reviews and peer-reviewed journal articles. In 2019, Dr. Saini was awarded the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts’ Stanley Cohen Distinguished Research Award, sponsored by the Oregon Family Institute.