Founding Directors and
Reflective Practice Group Leaders
Susanne Terry
Founding Director
Susan was the creator of the Mediation & Applied Conflict Studies Program at Woodbury College and was Program Director for twelve years. In addition be being a faculty member at Woodbury for over 20 years she has also taught at Champlain College and Vermont Law School. Susan is a mediator and consultant in private practice and has worked in several countries-including the UK, Ghana, Italy and Belgium-as well as extensively throughout the United States.
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Susan has been teaching and writing about reflective practice and leading reflective practice groups for more than 30 years. She is the editor and a contributor to More Justice, More Peace: When Peacemakers Are Advocates (2020).
Michael Lang
Founding Director
For more than 40 years Michael has mediated family, workplace, and organizational disputes.
Michael created and was the founding director of one of the first graduate programs in conflict resolution in the US at Antioch University and served in a similar role at Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC.
In the area of reflective practice, he has authored The Practitioners Guide to Reflective Practice in Conflict Resolution, second edition (2024) and co-authored The Making of a Mediator: Developing Artistry in Practice, (2000). Michael facilitates or co-leads a number of monthly reflective practice groups with participants from the US, Ireland, South Africa, Ukraine, and the UK.
Reflective Practice Group Leaders
Laurie Amaya - US
Colin Bourne - UK
Colin has been an accredited mediator since 2000. After many years practice at the Bar of England and Wales, Colin decided to devote all of his time to his practice as a mediator.
As well as his commercial practice, Colin leads training in mediation skills for officers and prisoners in UK prisons.
Having been a member for three years in the first Reflective Practice Group in the UK, Colin e has become an enthusiastic advocate for Reflective Practice and is now a co-facilitator of a Reflective Practice Group in Northern England.
Beibhinn Byrne - Ireland
Kelly Gering - US
Kelly Gering believes in the power of difference. Rooted in the understanding that vulnerability and dialogue can transform individuals, families, organizations, and the world, she created Shared Story, LLC - a conflict engagement firm that provides mediation, facilitation, training and conflict coaching.
Complementing her private practice, Kelly serves as adjunct faculty at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business teaching graduate courses in negotiation and conflict resolution including dynamics of conflict, facilitative conflict engagement, family systems in conflict and mediation.
Kelly serves on the Nebraska Judicial Branch’s Office of Dispute Resolution panel as a family Mediator. She is member of the faculty in The Certificate Course in RPG Leadership and co-facilitator of the Nebraska RPG.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy & Sociology from Lake Forest College, and a Master of Arts degree in Conflict Resolution from Antioch University McGregor. Certified in basic, family, and specialized alternative dispute mediation training with a focus in high conflict dispute resolution, Kelly believes that at the core, we yearn to be heard and understood by the other.
Hansa Patel - US
Hansa has worked with families in conflict for the past twenty years. As an attorney, she zealously advocated for abused and neglected children or parents’ rights in the juvenile dependency court. Hansa believes mediation empowers her clients to choose how they want to engage with conflict, co-create resolutions, and maybe even transform relationships. Hansa also facilitates a restorative justice peer-to-peer court to support first-time youth offenders.
Hansa teaches mediation in USA, Canada, and Africa to non-profits, community mediation programs, California Judicial Council Family Court Mediators, their directors, and local bar associations. Hansa recently completed her teacher training to teach the Understanding-Based Model. She is a certified mindfulness teacher, and integrates mindfulness practices and learnings into her teaching and facilitation.
The benefit of reflective practice is that it allows her to see how her professional and personal lives are interwoven, and to fine-tune her skills and open her heart--compassion for ourselves and others. Hansa co-led an RPG for landlord-tenant mediators. Hansa co-facilitates an RPG with mediators from Canada, Croatia, Egypt, Lebanon, and US,
Ellen Waldorf - US
Ellen Waldorf, the principal of eWaldorf Mediation in Massachusetts, helps clients navigate through conflict. For over 20 years, Ellen has mediated divorce, vacation home, and other family issues. Ellen teaches professionals to become divorce mediators through Divorce Mediation Training Associates. Through Step to Center, Ellen teaches employees and managers how to navigate interpersonal drama in the workplace.
For several years, Ellen has used reflective practice to coach students in mediation classes taught by Susan Terry and in her own divorce mediation trainings. Ellen has joined Susan and Michael in conference presentations and webinars, encouraging teachers of mediation to incorporate reflective practice into their training.
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Ellen co-facilitates an RPG with members from Canada, Croatia, Egypt, Lebanon, and US, and she is a faculty member in the Certificate Course in RPG Leadership
Beibhinn is an Irish, (MII) EU (IN-Medias) and internationally (IMI) accredited mediator, a qualified Child Inclusive Mediator (UK FMA) with Trauma Awareness and Resistance Training. She practises in family, couples, community and multicultural, cross border conflict resolutions alongside restorative dialogue and circle work. Beibhinn founded the Reflective Practice Group for the EU project group of In-Medias. She trained in Reflective Practice with Michael and Susan. She participates in US and Irish based groups and co-facilitates an RPG with family mediators with the League of Mediators of Ukraine.
Beibhinn is passionate about Reflective Practice. How do we notice what we notice? Why do we not notice what we fail to notice? It is in cultivating our awareness and heeding the call of our curiosity by consciously exploring our own values and insights that we deepen our connection to ourselves and to others. This elevates our ability to help others be curious about their situation and to explore their values and interests, in a productive and conscious way. It expands our skill in reflective listening which hones our talent to truly listen, authentically respond and ask questions that add value. It is the key to excellence in the art of mediation.
Laurie began training in Reflective Practice with Michael Lang in 2018. For 7 years she has participated in a Reflective Practice Group sponsored by the Academy of Professional Family Mediators. She facilitates monthly RPGs in Southern California as well as an international group sponsored by the Section of Dispute Resolution of the ABA. Laurie has joined Michael in webinars on Reflective Practice to groups in the US, Canada, and South Africa.
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Laurie is a family law mediator, consulting, and collaborative attorney. After many years as a litigator, Laurie changed her practice to help clients with peaceful, out-of-court resolutions to divorce and family law disputes. Laurie works full-time as an ADR professional. She is an APFM Certified Advanced Practitioner, APFM Senior Mediator, and Mediate.com Certified Senior Mediator.
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She is the author of the article, “Mediators Can Greatly Improve Your Skills Using Reflective Practice Groups,” published in Theories of Change for the Dispute Resolution Movement, edited by John Lande. Laurie received her B.A from U.C. Santa Cruz 1988, JD from Southwestern University School of Law and has been licensed to practice law in California since 1993 and Arizona since 1994. Her practice is in the Pasadena area of Los Angeles, CA.