4-day Basic Training in Transformative Mediation:
Ideological Foundations and Practice
14th – 17th of March 2013, Ljubljana, Slovenia
A Training by Joseph P. Folger Ph.D.
The Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation & Temple University
From Thursday 14th to Sunday 17th of March 2013 a four-day training entitled Transformative Mediation: Ideological Foundations and Practice was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
This training program provided an understanding of the core purpose and foundational principles of transformative practice. In addition to exploring the goals and effects of transformative intervention, this training provided practice with the core transformative intervention skills. Through lecture, discussion, video illustrations, and skill building exercises, this training program grounded participants in an approach to mediation practice that is rooted in the assumption that conflict is a crisis in human interaction.
The training was intended for experienced mediators (possibly also using transformative approach already) and mediation trainers, but was open also for other participants.
The Training was held in English each day from 9.00 to 17.00 in Ljubljana (with lunch break from 12.30 – 13.30). Plenary sessions were held in English, but participants were allowed to do the practice skills and role playing in their native language.
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2-day Advanced Transformative Mediation Training:
Ideological Foundations and Practice II
11th – 12th of March 2013, Ljubljana, Slovenia
A Training by Joseph P. Folger Ph.D.
The Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation & Temple University
From Monday 11th to Tuesday 12th of March 2013 a two-day Advanced Training in Transformative Mediation was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
The Training was conducted by the founding father of transformative mediation and co-author of the book The Promise of Mediation: Responding to Conflict Through Empowerment and Recognition and The Promise of Mediation: The Transformative Approach to Conflict, which represents the ground literature work concerning transformative mediation, and honoured guest speaker at The First International Congress of Transformative Mediation in Ljubljana, Joseph P. Folger.
This training program was built on the 4-day Basic Training in Transformative Mediation: Ideological Foundations and Practice in terms of detailed analysis and coaching in transformative mediation skills of practitioners who have adopted skills of transformative mediation in practice.
This training offered experienced mediators an opportunity to develop their transformative conflict intervention skills. The training included a review of the core principles that support transformative practice, including core assumptions about conflict and the potential human beings have to act with a balance of empowerment and recognition. The training also reviewed the main skills of transformative practice and examined how those skills support the constructive transformation of the parties’ interaction.
Participants practiced mediating during the training and received individualized, constructive feedback from the instructor to improve their work. Finally, the course addressed the challenges that transformative mediators often face in their practice, including challenges that stem from sustaining the value commitments of transformative practice and the communication/performance challenges of enacting the core skills.
The training was intended for mediators who have beforehand attended the 4-day Basic Training in Transformative Mediation: Ideological Foundations and Practice (either in Portorose, Slovenia in 2012 or elsewhere).
