Better ways and better days ahead — This is the guiding mantra of Cathy Wills’ mediation and group facilitation business where she helps families, organizations, and communities assess their options and come to strategic, compassionate, and inclusive solutions to the problems at hand. Throughout Cathy’s career, which continues to evolve after 35 years, her expertise has been shaped by diverse professional engagements, including work with non-profit organizations, private businesses, governments, unions, and more. The greatest reward, she said, is helping “… voices be heard and perspectives and needs understood.” 

Background and Training

Reflecting on her career, Cathy took note of its nonlinear trajectory. “This line of work is really curly; don’t ever try to straighten it out,” she said. It is evident, however, that her inspiration to become a conflict transformation practitioner may be traced back to childhood. Having grown up in a part of Toronto, Canada that was known for pervasive violence, Cathy experienced the extremes of conflict in daily life. Ultimately, this fueled her desire to help individuals establish a greater sense of peace in their homes, workplaces, and communities.

After spending years fulfilling roles in human resources, corporate training coordination, and strategic planning, Cathy developed many questions about workplace conflict. “I was seeing conflict come up all the time, and I wanted to get better training,” she commented. Among her credentials, Cathy earned a masters degree in conflict studies from the University of Ottawa and Saint Paul University in 2004 and, subsequently, became a chartered mediator from the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Canada, an accredited family mediator with the Ontario Association of Family Mediators, and a certified third party neutral from the Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution. 

Professional Highlights

Among her subsequent professional engagements, Cathy worked as a trainer, facilitator, and mediator for UNIFOR, the Canadian Department of National Defence, the Upper Canada District School Board, Carleton University’s Academic Staff Association, and the Ministry of the Attorney General. She was also a longstanding coach and trainer at the Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre. 

Cathy noted, “Perhaps some of the most interesting work I have done was as a mediator in the energy sector.” In this role, she served at the nexus of environmental rights, property owner rights, indigenous peoples’ rights, mining company rights, government rights, and business development rights, which created a strong propensity for conflict. “Whenever these interests intersect, chaos reigns. It was a tremendous challenge.” Developing a ‘conflict map’ and a corresponding ‘interests map’ was one strategy Cathy referenced as being effective for “… understanding each party’s position and true interests to move forward in a productive way.”

Of further interest, Cathy’s handbook for school communities, sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Education, is available for free download on her website.

Looking Ahead

Although mostly retired, Cathy regularly takes on new cases through her business where she serves individuals and groups in navigating diverse conflicts and establishing durable solutions for the future. She also hosts the “Next 150 Challenge,” which aims to reestablish and reconfigure Indigenous-state relations in Canada by promoting a mutually respectful relationship between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people. Inspired by the MBBI community, Cathy continues to progress her career. She plans to apply for her PhD and is interested in developing a framework by which to evolve traditional methods of workplace conflict investigations, folding in restorative processes from the beginning in order to get better results. Cathy believes that there are no bystanders in conflict and that the simple act of saying or doing something positive, “… can change the universe.” 

Article by Juliana Heffern, MBBI Writer

Yolanda Collins is a member of the three-person MBBI Ombuds Team. With over 15 years of experience as a mediator, Yolanda began her journey as a volunteer mediator and intake assistant with the Baltimore Community Mediation Program (CMP). With a solid conflict resolution foundation, she was selected as the first municipal Ombuds for the State of Maryland, City of Frederick Mayors’ Office, grant-funded by Maryland Judiciary’s Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office and soon transitioned to be the first Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Advisor embedded in a national disaster for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) during Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Now, she works as an ADR Federal Mediator for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), mediating employment discrimination charges. She and Ayo Ayoola-Amale (a second member of the Ombuds team) will also be at the IOA 2020 Conference in Portland, Oregon.

The Work of an Ombuds

An Ombudsman, Ombudsperson, or the gender-neutral Ombuds is an official charged with representing the interests of a group by investigating and addressing complaints reported by members. Ombuds are independent, impartial, and neutral in their review of facts and complaint investigation, but most importantly, they are Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) practitioners.

The MBBI Ombuds Team has jurisdiction over issues regarding:

• Actions carried (or the absence of) by MBBI, including the Board of Directors and management
• Activities or behaviors you believe are unfair
• Discrimination, particularly on the basis of race, gender, or disability
• Bullying by someone in your team or your team leader

Please contact the Ombuds lead at ombuds@mediatorsbeyondborders.org, or if you prefer that the Ombuds lead to contacts you by phone, please send an email providing a number, date, and time where you may be reached.

Yolanda Collins has been a part of the MBBI Ombuds Team since its conception in 2016 but has been attuning to the specifics of mediation and ADR for the past 15 years. Through her career as an Ombuds for the State of Maryland and for FEMA, she became aware of the fortitude of mediation as a more effective method of problem-solving than traditional law settlements. And ever since, she has tried to continually incorporate self-determination and restorative justice practices as a way to focus on healing harms and resolving long-standing issues instead of solely coming to a consensus.

Three ‘Firsts’

While completing dual Master’s degrees in Human Service Administration and Negotiation and Conflict Management Studies at Coppin State University and the University of Baltimore, respectively, Yolanda became enthralled with the fluidity of applications and strategies of conflict resolution. “I felt this overwhelming desire once I settled on Negotiation and Conflict Management Studies to find a community to practice in, which meant as a volunteer” Soon after she did just that, and became a consistent volunteer at the CMP in Baltimore.

The CMP in Baltimore organized local events for familial-based disputes. This provided Yolanda the incredible opportunity to directly engage in the community she was living in by positively impacting the people that lived there. She utilized ADR practices often in her mediation efforts. As a result of this sustained volunteerism, the state of Maryland honored Yolanda with the title of the first municipal Ombuds. In this brand new role, she developed conflict training initiatives amongst local citizens, neighborhoods, and businesses providing municipal areas awareness of the effectiveness of ADR and Ombuds strategies.

Her success on this statewide platform attracted the attention of FEMA. She became one of the founding members of the elite ADR Cadre, as on-call ADR Disaster Assistance Employee (DAE) to help mediate and problem solve internally with those who found themselves in the midst of conflict and working the immediate fallout of the devastating Hurricane Katrina. She was stationed in the disaster zone itself, allowing for “direct engagement with the workforce. I was living in the regions most affected by Hurricane Katrina. I would bike to each disaster site to help keep the mission forward.” FEMA soon realized the immense power an Ombuds has in a disaster operation and promoted Yolanda to the position of ADR Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employees (CORE) serving as Division Chief. In this role, Yolanda helped further her work in the communities most affected by the hurricane with her mediation and negotiation prowess.

All in the span of two years, Yolanda jumped from Baltimore’s CMP to Maryland’s first municipal Ombuds to original membership of FEMA’s ADR Cadre of Advisors of DAEs and only Ombuds to the Cadre’s first ADR CORE, an embedded neutral in a national disaster. She characterized this rapid change as “the ability to be available and jumping in when the door of opportunity opens… even if you don’t know where you’re going to land. In a short time span, I had three ‘firsts’ Maryland Municipal Ombuds, FEMA ADR Advisor embedded neutral, and Mediators Beyond Borders International Ombuds.” 

A Career in Negotiation and Conflict Management

Yolanda’s volunteer experiences: CMP volunteer,  Volunteer Mediator for the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights, which is a statewide EEO, and Consumer Complaint Mediator for the State of Maryland, Office of the Attorney General Consumer Protection Division demonstrating the diversity of background and experiences propelled her into the current role, a member of Atlanta’s mediation team for the EEOC ADR Section.

As a mediator for the EEOC, she receives charges deemed appropriate for mediation. “I have successfully applied all the learning as an Intake Assistant to Ombuds to now contribute to the EEOC Atlanta District Office ADR Section. My ability to connect Respondents and Charging parties, having them agree to mediate (at an outstanding high rate of response), demonstrates grassroots practices are still the foundation of any successful ADR Program. It has really helped me to have an Ombuds background.”

In this role at EEOC, Yolanda has been able to partner with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS)’s Shared Neutrals Program. Shared Neutrals connects government offices as an interagency mediation program. 

Yolanda’s extensive career as an Ombuds began as a volunteer opportunity. As a final word of advice, “paid gigs are few and far between, but you have to be willing early on to do a lot of volunteerism, that gets you where you need to go and want to end up.” 

Article by Benjamin Lutz, MBBI Communications and Operations Manager

From nine years behind the bench at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, Netherlands, to the boardroom of Strathmore College Dispute Resolution Centre, and with plenty of accomplishments in-between, the Honorable Joyce Aluoch has had both a challenging and satisfying career. Joyce started her journey in legal excellence by following the wishes of her father, “Law was not my choice of career. I had never imagined that I would be in the courtroom.” She quickly found that she enjoyed the subject, and as with anything she has started to do in her life, she took it to the highest level possible.

Establishment of the Family Division

After passing the bar, she started her career in the Kenyan judiciary where she rose through the ranks, and whilst in the High Court, she quickly saw the need for the establishment of a Family Division in the High Court. There was the Commercial Division, Civil Division, and Criminal Division, but lacking a family division. She saw the need for the creation of a separate division of the court due to the fact that most court hearings for family-related matters were not conducive to the schedules of families. He told her that the family division was not important, which she strongly disagreed with, “It is more important than all those other three divisions combined because everything begins at the family level. If you are not happy, you can’t do business. So I fought my way until we eventually had the Family Division.” She went on to head the division for the next 5 years, before passing its leadership on. Joyce was the second female magistrate and the second female judge to serve in Kenya.

Joyce also simplified the procedure in the Succession Act, making it easier and more affordable for parties to access forms and applications in the case of a deceased family member leaving a Will. This was just before the HIV/AIDS pandemic became a scare in Kenya. “I strived to make it simpler for parties who could not afford lawyers to apply on their own. The procedure was eased so that the legal documents could be obtained as quickly as possible to enable guardians and/or relatives to have access to bank accounts of deceased parents in order to enable children to continue with their education by paying school fees. This coincided with the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Kenya when many parents died in quick succession, leaving behind orphaned children.”This brought the Law of Succession into sharp focus for Joyce, as she was addressing a clerical issue that has wide implications throughout her county. “I know now that what I was doing is called mediation, because I made it easier for parties to talk to each other in my court and craft resolutions of their own. I just did not call it mediation since I did not know about it as a mechanism for resolving disputes.”

Mission for Children’s Rights in Northern Uganda

In 2005, Joyce went to northern Uganda with UNICEF to assess the situation and write a report for the African Union (AU), which was later adopted by them, on the plight of children who were being terrorized and recruited by the Lord’s Resistant Army (LRA). The Member of Parliament from that area whom she met in Kampala tried to dissuade her from going, but she felt she had to go. She recounted the horrors the children experienced, and many were afraid to sleep indoors, “… because they felt so insecure at night, the slept on the verandas of the shops. They did not want to go into houses since they felt that the LRA would come to abduct them from their homes. I would talk to the children and persuade them to go to the Oxfam structures instead,” she expounded. The children would often tell her that they were safer sleeping outside so they could escape in case they sighted LRA forces, they could flee uninhibited. Upon returning to Kampala, she met with the Kenyan ambassador who told her it was the most dangerous thing she had ever done in her life, Joyce responded “I didn’t think so. Human beings are up there. I felt I was in a position to help and why not? I had the edge to go and help. In a way, I was privileged because I went to school properly, was qualified, and had a job. I felt it was not right for me to just sit and do my job and not think of other people, especially children, most of whom were suffering.” These moments are the ones that drove her involvement in child and human rights advocacy.

Nomination to the International Criminal Court

During 2008, Joyce was completing her GMAP Master’s degree course, at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Boston.” Soon after graduation, she was nominated for the ICC, position to run for elections as a judge. She was not the original nominee for the position but replaced the judge who had first been nominated. “I was just lucky that the other judge’s nomination was withdrawn. It was by God’s grace and favor that this happened to me and that is how I described it at the time and even today.” At that time, Joyce was one of the few judges who pursued higher education. Before her nomination, she had never expected to serve internationally.  She began her term in 2009 at the ICC, at The Hague, and completed it in 2018.

From the Bench to Mediation

Always looking ahead, Joyce began planning for what she would do after completion of her 9-year tenure at The ICC.  She started thinking about other mechanisms for resolving conflicts, “court litigation is just one mechanism, there are several others: Arbitration, mediation, negotiation, and more. Come 2016, I decided to accrue so leave and I went to London to take a course in arbitration at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.“ The following year, she took another course in London, but instead on mediation, at Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution. Presently she mediates cases for the Kenyan Judiciary throughCourt Annexed Mediation and also privately, as well as with FIDA Kenya, promoting women’s rights and Strathmore Dispute Resolution Centre. She works on family, commercial, labour and employment mediation etc., as much as she can. “I find a lot of joy when parties reach a settlement on their own, and I always make them shake hands!”  Joyce continues to grow as a mediator and is developing her mediation style which she notes has been influenced by her legal background, she feels in tune with the parties and knows how to encourage them to open up.

Joyce is now an MBBI Board Member and is working on obtaining international mediation qualifications with the International Mediation Institute (IMI). She gave the convocation speech at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University in Boston, in 2018 and she continues to work with Court Annexed Mediation program, and many other organizations. “I believe that I prepared myself for what I am doing now. Mediation, MBBI,  and peacebuilding. Mediation’s main goal is to build peace by getting people to get together and resolve issues. I feel that it is something I can ready to do!” 

Article by Kylea Shropshire, MBBI Writer

Dr. Jack DeGruchy has lived his life striving to sing out and take risks. He has been an ultra-active Rotarian for more than 35 years and became a recent member of MBBI. Jack’s professional background has been in the field of dentistry, where he has specialized in 3D imaging of the head and neck, diagnosis, and treatment planning. He started his own company, Canadian Digital Imaging, seven years ago in Kelowna, British Columbia.

The Encounter

When he was 10 years old, he had a transformative experience in the prairies of Saskatchewan. “It was a beautiful evening and the sun was setting. I was trying to speak the language of a nighthawk,” he recalled. Mimicking the bird’s call for a few hours, a nighthawk swooped down beside him, no more than 10 feet away and approached him. “It taught me that all species are intelligent, but they are afraid of human beings. Once it knew that it could trust me, then it wanted to form a relationship with me.” This defining moment spurred on his appreciation of other species and the amazing beauty of creation.

“When you and I speak, all the books you’ve ever read, all the people you’ve ever met, all the experiences you’ve ever had are coming together right now with all the books I’ve ever read, all the people I’ve ever met, and all the experiences I’ve had. It creates a third brain operating and whatever we figure out together will be infinitely better than anything you or I could do alone.” 

Honoring Our Elders

In 2015, Jack created a foundation called Hour4Our which encourages people to contribute an hour of their time or wage to support ideas and solutions for more peaceful and sustainable communities. “I ask people to close their eyes for just a minute to see their forefathers/foremothers, to see particularly, what they were doing to build a better world for you.” He expressed how important it is to acknowledge what those before us did to ensure that we could exist in a better world than the one which they experienced “There is a lot of honor to that sort of contribution by those that are older than us, and I really think it is essential to respect our elders.”

The foundation is aimed at doing good not only for the present but particularly for generations to come, for all species. Jack believes that we are all one humanity and that we often divide ourselves into different categories that are often foisted upon us. “I am adamant that when we do things together when we collaborate together, we can do better than we can alone.” He is working towards growing the foundation so that it can support more good work and can help young people move forward and realize their ideas.

The Rights of Nature and Grateful Believers

Jack has been involved with environmental conservation and activism for many years and admires those that love and protect the Earth. Respect for nature has become part of him and he encourages others to “have the vision of an eagle, the discernment of an owl, the pathfinding of a wolf, the transformation of a frog, the strength of a bear, but most importantly, the grateful belief of a hummingbird.” He believes that as one humanity we should respect and stand up for the rights of rivers, lakes, oceans, and all of nature.

He acknowledges that technology has brought about a lot of good in the world, but it has also led to eco-depression, contamination of waterways, and the degradation of the earth. “Our world is pushed by what we want instead of what we need, and I think that’s why the ocean is full of shiny plastic. We have been marketed to the idea of ‘we need this and this and this and that.’ However, I really see a shift today towards a green economy where kids will come up with ideas to improve and enhance the future.” 

He was president of Nature’s Wild Neighbors Society which promotes environmental education in hopes of raising a generation of youth inherently aware of their impact on the environment and how their positive interaction with nature and wildlife can help preserve our natural wonders for generations to come. “We have a great generation coming up right now that is empathetic, intelligent, and understanding in ways different and better than ever before. I love it!”

Discovering Mediation

Jack believes that when we shift to a perspective of love “we understand that are human and all make mistakes and say the wrong thing.” He explains that if we accept that of each other we are able to work together and move forward in a more collaborative way. Due to the current global environmental situation, he also expressed that there will be a need for mediation, not only regarding personal disputes, but also over resources like water. “War and conflict are both simply a matter that someone has something that somebody else wants.” Environmental sustainability will continue to play a key role in fostering world peace in the years to come. Jack believes in global citizenship and with it, global stewardship. Jack has great hope for a more peaceful world in the future and more responsible stewardship of the earth by humanity.

Currently, Jack is working on a documentary called “Dreamers” and pursuing to grow his foundation. He continues to serve as a passionate Rotarian and is seeking to redefine its 21st-century presence, by creating environments for youth to meet and discuss environmental issues. He left off with a final provoking question “Are you a worrier or a warrior?”

Article by Kylea Shropshire, MBBI Writer

“I have always been attracted to the art of the possible and helping to move a group of people toward what they want to achieve.”

Christine Peringer is a group facilitation and mediation specialist based in Ottawa, Canada. Her background in law and peace advocacy, as well as her passion for bringing people together, has allowed her to successfully facilitate diverse conflict transformation initiatives throughout her career. Christine has served communities and organizations, both nationally and internationally, in leadership positions with prominent non-profits and on the boards of several Canadian national coalitions. Her career continues to evolve through her international engagements and active participation with MBBI. 

Discovering the Interplay Between Peace and Conflict

In her first year at Osgoode Hall Law School, Christine was exposed to the complex interplay between peace and conflict and how disputes are managed in the legal system. She said, “I found it fascinating, but felt strongly that the confrontational style I was being taught would not necessarily serve the interests of those involved.” After completing her first year, Christine spent a year interning at the Ontario provincial legislature where she explored models of conflict management that did not involve adjudication. She then returned to her studies with this broader perspective and was inspired to join a nonprofit organization called, “Lawyers for Social Responsibility.” This group advocated for nuclear disarmament under the premise that the law should be a tool for peace and conflict resolution. Working alongside peers in this effort “… gave me an important skillset and helped direct my career interest,” Christine explained.   

After graduating, she launched into a series of jobs within the peace advocacy movement. Christine became a co-facilitator within the Canadian Peace Alliance where she helped the national coalition of advocacy groups, churches, community-based consortia, and national organizations, such as Greenpeace, run shared campaigns. She also served as a coordinator with the ‘Centre for Days of Peace,’ which was an association of public health and peace organizations promoting humanitarian ceasefires in world war zones during the late 1980s.

Helping People to Have the Conversations they Need

In subsequent years, Christine started a family and spent time raising her children where she, unexpectedly, found the opportunity to refocus her career. “Raising kids taught me a lot about mediation,” she said. One book that she read during this time, “How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk,” served as a source of inspiration. It addresses conflict resolution tactics for parents, such as the importance of affirming children’s feelings in order to transform a potentially heated dilemma into a rational and productive discussion. Many of these principles served Christine well in her subsequent career as a peace practitioner.

“I took a lot of mediation training during that time, including courses in organizational conflict. I was immediately drawn to the complexity of this work.”. After twenty years as an independent consultant, Christine’s business serves nonprofit organizations, community and advocacy groups, government leaders, and coalitions that are committed to making the world a better place. Through a process that is collaborative, results-oriented, and custom-designed, she offers conflict resolution, strategic planning, program evaluation, and other forms of communication and facilitation training. Christine explained, “It is exciting for me to play a role in helping a group of people achieve something together that they did not think was possible.” 

International Engagement with MBBI

“I joined MBBI to collaborate with a host of mediators who are dedicated to this type of work!” After a conversation with one of MBBI’s founding members, Suzanna Norbeck, Christine was accepted to the MBBI Climate Change Policy Project where she has become an active member of the education subgroup. As an official Observer at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations, Christine, along with three other project members, spent two weeks in June attending “The Bonn Climate Change Conference” in Germany. When prompted to provide her thoughts on the conference, Christine said, “It was thrilling to witness what I consider to be the most important conversation happening on the planet, and it was stimulating to be thinking about how we, as mediators, can play an important role in promoting collaborative approaches to disputes related to climate change.” MBBI’s climate change group is currently meeting on a monthly basis to develop plans for a workshop and policy paper that they hope to circulate in the new year. 

Building on her life-long concern for global issues and international peace, Christine is happy to be a member of MBBI. She is eager to make new contacts, serve as a consultant, and potentially expand her participation in additional working groups. In her own words, “I always enjoy opportunities to facilitate multi-party collaborations that are trying to achieve something that will make the world better for all!”

To learn more about Christine, visit: www.peringer.ca

Article by Juliana Heffern, MBBI Writer