On April 29, the New England Chapter of the Association for Conflict Resolution held its annual meeting in Wellesley, MA and presented a program by Emily Gould of Empatia Resolutions, in Montpelier, VT. The annual meeting was brief, and at that time I ended my term as president and began a one-year term as secretary.
After the annual meeting, we moved on to the main event: Emily’s presentation, “The Oxygen Mask Principle: Self-care as skill-building for the dispute resolution practitioner.” Emily is an experienced attorney, conflict coach, trainer, and mediator. She provided a thought-provoking perspective on how a mediator can serve herself or himself as well as clients by becoming more mindful of the values and needs that underlie the interests that themselves underlie positions.
