Registration Limited for Webinar on Trauma-Informed Mediation Practices

Back in January, I completed the overview planning for the Spring Conference with the Virginia Mediation Network.  It’s hard to believe it, but we are now preparing for the final of our three-part series.  VMN will host the last session via webinar, on Tuesday, May 3 at 1:30 p.m. 

In this final session, participants will be introduced in how to construct a mediation process that is trauma-sensitive and trauma informed.  This webinar will focus how members may come into mediation with experiences of trauma, how mediators are affected by secondary trauma, and how the court system can be traumatic and thereby impact some participants in mediation.  While the speakers will address the impact on children, they will also provide a broad overview of the topic of trauma and mediation. The speakers will include Jamie E. Austin, the Regional Director for Pathways in Culpepper, Virginia and Shannon Sneary, a mediator with the Fairfield Center in Harrisonburg, Virginia.  Due to the nature of the webinar, pre-registration is required no later than May 1!  (The cost is only $10.00 for VMN members!)  You may register by visiting the VMN website.

Hon. Leonard Edwards joined with therapist Steve Baron to address issues pertaining to children in mediation at the April webinar.

The webinar will be a great follow-up to the prior events held this spring.  The first session, addressing ethical issues involving children and mediation, took place throughout Virginia during the month of March.  The meeting included a pre-recorded panel presentation by experts including Virginia State Bar Ethics Counsel, James M. McCauley, certified mediator Andrea Palmisano, and attorney James Q. Pope.  On-site facilitators integrated live discussion with the pre-recorded session.  The next session was conducted via a webinar on April 7, 2016, and addressed including children’s voices mediation. California retired judge, Hon. Leonard Edwards joined local expert and VMN board member Jennifer Phillips for the hour long discussion.