I just returned from the International Association of Collaborative Professionals (IACP) in Chicago, which was held last week.
Kendra Erkamaa, a financial neutral from Des Moines, IA, and me at the IACP last week.
I met collaborative lawyers, mediators, mental health providers and financial neutrals from all over the world (Australia, Canada, UK, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Israel, to name a few) as well as from all over the US. I took classes on the newest ideas in collaborative law and mediation.
I will be sharing these ideas and learnings on January 9th at the CCDP meeting (time and place TBD).
I enjoyed getting to know Steven Goldman, a fellow attorney from Fairfax, VA.
One of the classes I took was Collaborative Law and Mediation: On a Collision Course or Merging? I took another class on streamlining the collaborative process, and I even learned about a Flat Fee Collaborative Model being used in Canada.
Lydia Richardson, a mental health professional from Chicago, IL, and I enjoyed discussing Myers Briggs and the Enneagram model.
I had a 5-hour class on the Enneagram Model of personality, which is a fascinating theory. I took a class from Pauline Tessler, and she spoke about various ways to become more self-aware and become a better collaborative professional. She gave us a battery of tests on Myers Briggs, unconscious bias, Enneagram, and conflict style. I left her class very informed, more self-aware and quite a bit more humble.
Cheryl Panther, a financial neutral from Nashville, TN, was sweet as can be!
It wasn’t all work, though. Much of our time was spent socializing with all these interesting professionals. When you do the same kind of work, you sort of skip over the basics and begin to explore ways to push the collaborative method forward
I was awestruck by Louise Mathias, a barrister and mediator from Sydney, Australia!
The people I met were kind, warm and very giving of their time and professional experience. I definitely plan to attend the IACP convention again.