Photo collage of participants at our training course in Roseau, Dominica
Jared, Regina, Caroline and I are sitting in the dining room of the Fort Young Hotel in the capital of Dominica, Roseau. The dining room is actually an old fort which was built by the British in 1771 after they had seized the old fort from the French. We arrived on Saturday after an hour and a half drive through the mountains in the dark along a steep, windy and narrow road where we did hairpin turns very close to the edge of large cliffs. Although we could not see a lot, we will see it on our way back in the daylight. We have been training 28 police officers from around this gorgeous island in negotiation and mediation skills through a program called the Impact Justice Project.
This program is in cooperation with the University of the West Indies and the Canadian Government. Our first 2 days were spent teaching the theory and skills related to the practice of both. The officers have a variety of experience in dealing with all sorts of domestic and community disputes and were eager to hear about the theory that informs their practice.
Today, however, we woke up to the calm before the storm and by lunch time we were in the middle of tropical storm “Matthew”.
Teaching in the dark during tropical storm “Mathew” in Roseau, Dominica
All participants were called back to their stations to ensure safety in the community and we are now looking at the agenda to ensure we can cover the rest of the course in the time remaining. In addition, as the island has still not recovered from the devastation of tropical storm “Erica” in August of 2015, many of the roads and bridges will be unpassable in the morning so we are not sure how many will make it back and…… whether will be able to leave as planned on Saturday. Not a bad place to be marooned. Prior to our abrupt end this morning, we spent the morning talking about high conflict people and the participants recognized many of the characteristics we talked about. They are an engaging group.
Stay tuned for updates from the team!
Our team in Dominica…
Caroline Felstiner
Caroline Felstiner is an accredited family mediator, child protection mediator, and a registered social worker.
Elizabeth Hyde
Elizabeth is an arbitrator, mediator and parenting coordinator with Riverdale Mediation Ltd.
Regina Thompson
Regina is a parenting mediator, a family/child protection mediator and a certified adjudicator.
Jared Norton
Jared is a registered social worker, parenting coordinator, and an accredited family mediator with Riverdale Mediation Ltd.
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