CHILD ACCESS MEDIATION TRAINING WORKSHOP
WASHINGTON, D.C.
April 30-May 2, 2010
Our 20-hour Child Access Mediation Training workshop for professionals will be held April 30-May 2, 2010 at the office of Mediation Matters in Bethesda, Maryland. This workshop is designed to provide both hands-on training and a clear framework to enable participants to work effectively with divorcing and unmarried parents who are struggling over their children. Past participants tell us that this is some of the best professional training they have ever received. We hope your experience will be the same.
Who 
should attend?
The only prerequisite for this training is simply that you have already completed a forty-hour divorce or basic mediation training. This workshop is for people who would like to develop the skills needed to work with parties who are involved with children. If you are already mediating, the more experience you bring to the training, the more you will get from it. If you are just starting up, this will help.
What does this workshop include?
This interactive workshop uses a range of formats including video, demonstrations, discussions, simulations, lecture and music. The workshop, with a 200-page manual, covers the basic content areas of child access mediation. The training also focuses on the skills involved in becoming an effective mediator in parenting disputes.
Some of the many components in this training include:
- how to talk about custody and visitation
- distress and disorder: emotional aspects of separation and divorce
- screening for and addressing domestic violence
- family systems: seeing the whole picture
- the relation and bifurcation of custody and child support
- Maryland domestic relations law
- child development theory: its use and abuse in custody cases
- parenting plans for very young children
- the "50/50" myth
- enmeshed mothers and entitled fathers
- removal and relocation
- special needs and concerns
- writing good parenting agreements
and more.
A distinctive feature of this training is the use of videotapes for instruction, including tapes of actual mediations.The workshop includes a minimum of three mediation role-plays so that each participant can practice and develop his/her skills.
For Maryland residents, this workshop will meet the 20-hour requirement for child access mediation training under Rule 17-106(b) of the Court of Appeals in Maryland for those wishing to be approved as access mediators.
A certificate of completion, suitable for framing, will be issued to you upon successful completion of and full attendance at the training course.
Who are the faculty for the course?
The workshop will be led by:
Carl D. Schneider, Ph.D…Over the past twenty years Carl has trained several thousand mediators locally, nationally, and abroad.
Currently Director of Mediation Matters, Bethesda, Maryland, Carl is a registered psychologist, licensed clinical Marriage and Family Therapist, Certified Mediator with the Maryland Council on Dispute Resolution and with the Supreme Court of Virginia, and an Advanced Practitioner Member of the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR). Carl is the former Director (1981-1989) of Divorce Mediation Service, a group practice of 16 mediators in the Chicago area, and former Director of the Mediation Program of Woodbury College in Montpelier, Vermont.
He has been on the Board of Directors of the national Academy of Family Mediators, and has been the chair of the Certification Committee for the Maryland Council on Dispute Resolution. Carl is author of Shame, Exposure and Privacy (Norton, 1992) and has served on the editorial board of Mediation Quarterly. He holds a M. Div. degree from Union Theological Seminary in N.Y.C. and a Ph.D. from Harvard University.
"Strengths too numerous to enumerate here - Generally, Carl Schneider does everything in the training well - outstanding teacher, speaker, preacher, entertainer - Teaches by example - what an example."
— Louisa Abbot, Superior Court Judge, Chatham County, Georgia
Dates/Time/Location:
April 30-May 2, 2010. We will meet from 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. on Sunday. Please plan to be present for the full workshop. Registration will begin at 8:45 a.m. on the first day; the workshop begins at 9:00 a.m.
The workshop will be held at the office of Mediation Matters, 9816 Parkwood Drive, Bethesda, Maryland (click for directions).
What is the cost?
Early registration (a $175 deposit at least thirty days prior to the workshop) is $725 (manual included). After that, the fee is $795. The full balance is due two weeks prior to the workshop with no refunds beyond that point.
How do I register?
Send a check for $175 and a completed registration form to:
Mediation Matters
9816 Parkwood Drive
Bethesda, MD 20814
Your registration fee is refundable, less $25 service fee, up to three weeks prior to the training. After that, the deposit is non-refundable. Registration for the workshops is limited in order to give proper attention to small groups and role plays.Since many of our workshops fill quickly, we encourage you to register early.
Should I read anything beforehand?
Yes. We recommend Janet Johnston
and Linda Campbell's
IMPASSES OF DIVORCE: THE DYNAMICS AND RESOLUTION OF FAMILY CONFLICT (Free
Press, l998, $20). The book can be ordered online from
Amazon.com by clicking on the cover picture to the left.Copies will also be available for purchase at the workshop.
The 400 page Training Manual for the workshop, including ready-to-use forms, will be distributed the first day of the training.
Accommodations and Meals:
If you would like assistance in finding nearby inexpensive accommodations, please contact us. We will provide a continental breakfast in the morning, lunch, and snacks in the afternoon.
Please join us:
We hope you will be able to join us for this fine professional training. If you have any questions not answered on this page, feel free to call us (301/581-0330 or 1-800-905-2221 outside of the Washington DC area). We look forward to seeing you in April.
"I learned more in these few days (and had more fun too) than my entire Master's program (Yale). ...I shall never forget the experience. "
— Shelby Kay Buckman, M.S., Guardian ad Litem, New Haven, Connecticut
Carl D. Schneider,
Ph.D.
Director,
Mediation Matters
