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Menno Simons College hosts insight mediation workshop

Addressing the complexity of conflict

The workshop “Practicing Insight Mediation: Helping Conflicting Parties Make Wise Decisions” will be led by Dr. Cheryl Picard, professor emeritus at Carleton University and principle of Cheryl Picard & Associates.

The workshop will take place May 6-8, 2015 at MSC and will be available for university credit or professional development.

Insights Workshop PosterInsight mediation is a style of conflict intervention that was developed as a result of collaboration between two Canadian scholars, Dr. Picard, Carleton University and Dr. Kenneth Melchin, Saint Paul University. They extensively studied successful mediation practice and applied ideas from Bernard Lonergan’s theory of insight to develop the insight approach to conflict resolution and mediation.

The insight approach addresses the complexity of conflict, including the role of emotion and the importance of values, through the integration of theories of social action with micro communication skills and conflict resolution strategies.

Participants in this workshop will be encouraged to re-think traditional ideas about conflict and conflict intervention as they are introduced to the idea that conflict resolution involves the production of new understandings that help conflicting parties identify and understand the threat experiences and defense responses that create and sustain conflict.

Emphasis will be placed on the development of skills to de-escalate threat narratives through the mediation dialogue as this can change problematic patterns of interaction and enable parties to find ways to either resolve their differences or to live more peacefully with them.

Dr. Picard is an educator, mediator, and conflict coach specializing in interpersonal, workplace, and community-based conflict for over 35 years. Dr. Picard brings a relational ideology to her teaching and conflict resolution practice, which means she views people as connected to each other through complex webs of relationships, patterns of interaction, and meaning-making.

For more information or to register visit www.mscollege.ca.

About Menno Simons College
Menno Simons College (MSC), a part of Canadian Mennonite University and affiliated with the University of Winnipeg, has been offering programs in International Development Studies (IDS) and Conflict Resolution Studies (CRS) since 1989. MSC fosters a vibrant undergraduate learning community in its newly renovated facility at 520 Portage Avenue. It offers 3-year and 4-year majors and a minor in IDS and CRS, an honours program in IDS, and an extensive practicum program. MSC has over 1,000 students and hundreds of alumni working in the development and conflict resolution sectors in Manitoba, Canada, and internationally.

For additional information, please contact:

Joel Marion
Menno Simons College
204.953.3844
jo.marion@uwinnipeg.ca