There are different ways to get better at the Collaborative work that we do. We have taken our introductory Training and our 35-hour Mediation training, and likely attended conferences and / or other trainings. Another way for us to understand the work better and to get some first-hand experience is through the mentor / mentee experience.
In Brazil, every year in February, hundreds of people gather in the City of Lamentations, Capital of the State of Eternal Causes, to attend the Fantastic Disputes Convention. We interviewed the organizers to know a little more about the Convention, and we got some revealing information.
Recently, I was invited to a client lunch with a financial adviser trained in Collaborative Practice, with whom I work, and to whom I've referred several clients for assistance in both Collaborative matters and mediations. To my surprise and delight, I was seated at the table next to a former client (*Mary). To say that I did not recognise her would be an understatement. She literally looked like a new woman, and not because she had aged during the approximately eight years since I worked with her.