Mediator, trainer, and group facilitator, Facilitated Solutions
October 2007: Since graduating CJP in the spring of 1999, I have continued my work as a mediator, trainer, and group facilitator.
From 1999-2003 I lived in the Atlantic coast region of Canada. (We moved there so my wife, Tammy, could pursue her dream of studying fine arts.) During these years I worked in close collaboration with the Nova Scotia Restorative Justice Initiative, leading training seminars for victim-offender mediation agencies around the region. I also worked closely with a federal program called Circles of Support and Accountability which was geared towards helping high-risk, sexual offenders safely reintegrate into society following the completion of their prison terms. The program’s watchword is: “No More Victims.”
We returned to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (prairie region) in 2003. Although continuing to do some work in restorative justice applications, the bulk of my focus has shifted to applications in workplace conflict. I work as a facilitator and mediator primarily under the auspices of two agencies: Mediation Services, a non-profit program with a Certificate Training Program (www.mediationserviceswpg.ca), and Facilitated Solutions, a Winnipeg-based consulting firm specializing in workplace conflict transformation (www.fscanada.org).
Beginning In 2006, Mediation Services and Facilitated Solutions jointly undertook a significant redevelopment of the mediation model we were teaching in our programs. The goal was to better reflect new developments in our mediation practice, particularly relating to innovative workplace-based techniques pioneered by Facilitated Solutions. This process, which I am leading and which is still underway, includes the production of a video (completed) and a forthcoming book. I and my colleagues at both organizations are excited about the potential of sharing our approach more broadly.
Most days, this work still feels like a labor of love and only occasionally a pain in the rear! It also continues to bear fruit in my life, particularly as it relates to my ongoing journey into realizing the divisions and wounds in my own heart that need healing! Regardless, I continue to feel privileged to share this journey with both wonderful colleagues and courageous clients who offer me a sacred gift of trust in allowing me to walk alongside them with their own conflicts. My hope is that as we walk together, despite my own always more obvious shortcomings, I can serve as something of a ‘wounded healer.’