Submitted by Section Vice-Chair, William Everett Larose
Summary of Meetings
Number of Meetings Held: 2
February 25, 2016
Guest Speaker: Neal Berger, Executive Director of Cedars at Cobble Hill Residential Treatment Center
Meeting Title/Topic: "The New Mental Model" of Addiction
Synopsis: The presentation was focused on providing ADR professionals with new insights to use in working with clients who present risks to individuals, families and the workplace due to their addictions to alcohol, drugs and prescription medication.
March 31, 2016
Guest Speaker: Gordon Sloan, partner in ADR Education Victoria BC and one of Canada's best known trainers and teachers of dispute resolution.
Meeting Title/Topic: Thorny Issues in Mediation
Synopsis: Mr. Sloan conducted a participatory round-table, inviting participants to raise questions and discuss issues that they have encountered in their various practices. This resulted in a broad spectrum of topics being discussed with one of the key themes being the distinction between surface conflict and conflict that was driven by fundamentally different core values.This presentation was featured in an issue of Bar Talk.
Comments and Observations of the Chair
It was unfortunate that 2 scheduled presentations had to be cancelled this year, one due to a speaker time conflict and the other as a result of low projected attendance. Time was taken to explain the rationale for and benefits of the affiliate membership to the non lawyer mediators who attend our meetings.The expectation has been set that as of September 2016, attendees of our meetings/presentations must be either CBA members or CBA affiliate members.