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
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.
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
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.
​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.
​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.
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.
​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
Nancy Radford - UK
Nanct Radford is Accredited in Civil & Commercial, Workplace & Employment, SEND, Community and Restorative Justice mediations, Nancy has been lead mediator in over 900 mediations over the past ten years. She also provides conflict management training and coaching. Michael Lang sparked her interest in Reflective Practice, and she arranged two UK RPGs, one with Michael and Ava Abramowitz, another with Colin Bourne. She has completed the Certificate Course in RPG Leadership with RPII. Before becoming a full-time peacemaker in 2014, Nancy was a director in a successful family business, midwife, manager, research fellow, consultant and trainer in public, private & third sector.
Frances Stephenson - Ireland
Frances is a mediator based in Ireland with 20 years’ experience in workplace, elder and family mediation. She is an Advanced accredited mediator and accredited trainer with the Mediators’ Institute of Ireland (MII). She is also an Advanced elder mediator accredited with the Elder Mediation International Network (EMIN). A founding member of Later Life Mediation (a not-for-profit organisation that works with intergenerational issues within families), she practices and trains mediators in the EMIN accredited elder speciality.
Frances had the pleasure of studying on the RPII Certificate Course in RPG Leadership with Michael Lang and Susan Terry in 2023. She had joined Susan and Michael in their collaboration with the League of Mediators of Ukraine (LiMU) as they so generously brought the gift of reflective practice to family mediators in the Ukraine.
Frances’ work brings her across the public, private and community sectors ranging from two party mediations to large multi-party groupings. She has found the insights and learning from reflective practice to be truly valuable.
Kim Reisch - US
A practitioner for over 30 years, Kim Reisch mediates conflicts in a variety of settings, for court connected individuals, including neighbors and families, for organizations, and for families regarding parenting, divorce, and family relationships. She facilitates a variety of restorative practices including Restorative Circles, Juvenile Restorative Conferences and Re-Entry Circles. Affiliated with the Center for Dispute Settlement, as Director of Ontario/Yates Counties, Kim is also a certified mediation trainer with the New York State Division of Alternative Dispute Resolution. She provides Basic Mediation Training and continuing education to volunteer and professional mediators across New York State. As a retired attorney, Kim has found reflective practice a meaningful way to increase her mediator self-awareness and support her clients’ self-determined choices. Kim facilitates an RPG for the Center of Dispute Settlement and is a faculty member in the Certificate Course in RPG Leadership.
Tracey-Leigh Wessels - South Africa
Tracey-Leigh Wessels is a Family and Divorce Mediator and Attorney based in Durban, South Africa. She has been practicing in the legal field since 1996. While still a young candidate attorney she was given the opportunity to attend a mediation course, and since then works almost full time as a Family & Divorce Mediator, with the attorney part of her Practice being reserved for Surrogacy and Reproductive Law matters where she is one of a handful of attorneys working in South Africa in this field.
Tracey-Leigh holds an LLB from the University of Kwazulu-Natal (1990) and two Law Master’s Degrees dealing with children and the Law. In addition to her work in Family and Divorce Mediation, Tracey-Leigh trained in Civil and Commercial Mediation through the ADR Group (London) in 2012. Her mediation practice now includes matters involving, Family & Divorce Mediation, Marital & Couples Mediation, Elder Mediation and the new field of Reproductive Law Mediation involving intended parents, donors, and surrogate mothers.
Tracey-Leigh is a member of the KwaZulu-Natal Society of Mediators, Social Justice Network of Mediators, and the Academy of Professional Family Mediators (APFM), where she serves on the Board and Executive Committee. Tracey-Leigh is also actively involved in Reflective Practice and runs an RPG with a number of South African mediators.
David Hubbard - US
David Hubbard, J.D., has been trying to improve his skills and the skills of other mediators for over two decades. As the Director of the Conciliation Court since 2017 for Douglas County District Court in Omaha, Nebraska, he is responsible for ensuring the Local Court Rule 4-3 Approved Mediators provide quality services and support for parents, families, children, attorneys, court personnel, and other resources. David facilitates and mediates Parenting Plans, Parenting Plan modifications, and teaches parenting education classes and advanced mediator workshops starting from a foundation of self-care, mindfulness, and reflective practice.
The quest for lifelong learning provided opportunities to teach at The Werner Institute at Creighton Law School, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the Nebraska Supreme Court’s Office of Dispute Resolution, the Nebraska Mediation Association, the Nebraska State Bar, and the American Bar Association. From 2005 through 2017, David team-taught the mediation class and later a family mediation training as an adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska College of Law where he added reflective practice to both curriculums. David co-facilitates the Nebraska RPG.
Ava Abramowitz - US
Ava J. Abramowitz is a former assistant United States attorney for the District of Columbia, Ms. Abramowitz taught negotiations at the George Washington University Law School for twenty years. In 2016 she organized a reflective practice group sponsored by the ABA Dispute Resolution Section which is still ongoing today. She is the author of The Architect’s Essentials of Negotiation (2nd ed.). She has written many an article on negotiation and mediation issues facing lawyers and clients, including “Modern Consultative Sales Theory” published in Negotiation Essentials for Lawyers. Ms. Abramowitz has been serving as a mediator for the federal courts for the District of Columbia since the late eighties, mediating civil cases including corporate cases, class actions, and disputes involving civil liberties, intellectual property and employment discrimination. She co-facilitates two RPGs in UK.