Cost is free however, donations are appreciated and will support future FCM workshops and events.  Suggested amount: $10.

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Housing Insecurity is a growing problem in Maine, and often has an impact on the discussions that take place during a mediation.  This session will discuss housing insecurity and homelessness in Maine and provide information on the systems and programs in place to assist people experiencing a housing crisis. 

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Presenter: Lauren Bustard is the Senior Director of Homeless Initiatives at MaineHousing.  Prior to joining MaineHousing in 2012, she worked for many years in social service and education programs in Maine, and in refugee and international development programs in Latin America and Southeast Asia. 

Cost is free but donations are appreciated and will support future FCM workshops and events. 

 Supporting groups of people in conflict is a passion of mine and is what originally brought me into the field of mediation about 13 years ago. As I’ve sought to be proficient in mediating conflicts involving more than 2 or 3 people, I have studied and practiced a variety of facilitation processes that demystify assisting multiple people in conflict. Many basic mediation skills are the same whether working with 2 people or 15 or 50, however many things are vastly different as well. In this presentation I will share what I’ve come to consider the most important elements of this work, the structures that I find most effective and what I think best practices look like. I’ll share a case study and will also be interested in your questions.

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Click here to donate Suggested amount: $10

Presenter: Leah Boyd is a certified trainer with the International Center for Nonviolent Communication and holds a BS in Education.  She is a professional mediator, group facilitator, communication skills trainer & musician. With a diverse background including special education, human resources and professional music, Leah brings wide personal experience to her work. In addition to serving private clients, Leah has served as a mediator for the Maine Department of Education as well as the Maine District Court System. She has also served on the Board of Governors for the Maine Association of Mediators. Leah is also part of the musical duo, Peaceful Means, weaving together original songs and uplifting arrangements of choice covers. The duo combines vocals and accompanying piano, acoustic strings, and percussion to create music that inspires a consciousness of nonviolence.

Cost is free, although donations are appreciated and will support future FCM workshops and events.

This is a discussion based workshop with an experienced panel of mediators including Barry Kohler, Genie Wheelwright, and Tim McCormack, who will be answering questions about their best tips and practices for writing solid, mediated agreements.

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Click here to donate Suggested amount: $10

Panelists: 

Barry Kohler, Esq. - After 22 years as an attorney practicing mainly Family Law and Estate Planning/Trusts and Estates, Barry became a Certified Financial Planner™ practitioner and left active law practice to work as a financial planner for a small independent start-up. A majority interest in the successor to the start-up firm was eventually acquired by the accounting firm of Berry, Dunn, McNeil & Parker (now BerryDunn), where Barry practiced as a financial planner and CFP® practitioner for 10 years. Upon leaving the accounting firm, Barry became the Director of the Trust and Wealth Management Group at Androscoggin Bank, which position he left in 2014.

Barry's sole professional activity for the last several years has been Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), primarily mediation. He has served on a number of CADRES [court] rosters, and remains active in court mediation in family matters. In addition, since 2018, Barry has served as one of nine members of the Supreme Judicial Court’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Service Committee.

Genie Wheelwright - Genie earned her Masters in Latin American History and taught Spanish in high school for 17 years. As a member of Maine Educators Against Fingerprinting Genie refused to be fingerprinted in order to renew her teaching certificate. She then taught at Bowdoin College until 2018 when she retired from teaching.  Genie became interested in Alternative Dispute Resolution when she met a couple of mediators in Australia who worked for the City of Sydney as mediators. Fascinated by their stories, Genie took the ADR course from USM upon her return to Maine. She has served on the Small Claims and Family Matters rosters since 2006.

Tim McCormack, Esq. - Tim McCormack is an attorney at Preti Flaherty, where he represents whistleblowers who help the United States and various states fight fraud. His clients have successfully helped the United States and various states recover hundreds of millions of dollars from companies who defrauded the government by overbilling for vital healthcare services, reconstruction projects in Afghanistan, school lunch programs in New York and a Veterans Administration home loan program.

Since 2018, Tim has been mediating public interest cases, especially agriculture-related, family matters, and small claims cases, through the Family and Community Mediation, Maine Agricultural Mediation Program, and CADRES rosters.

Cost: FREE but we are also accepting donations

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This workshop will be facilitated by Maddie Thomson Crossman, Esq. from Pine Tree Legal, and will provide an introduction to Maine landlord/tenant laws, also known as Forced Entry and Detainer laws.

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Facilitator: Maddie Thomson Crossman has been a staff attorney at Pine Tree Legal Assistance since 2021, where she represents tenants in eviction proceedings and coordinates client education efforts. She graduated from Northeastern University School of Law in 2014.

Cost: FREE although donations are being accepted

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This workshop will be facilitated by Nancy Morin, Esq. and will be highly interactive with lots participation!  Nancy will walk participants through how to do a basic child support calculation by hand, and then participants will get the opportunity to practice/discuss one or two different scenarios. If you have a child support calculation question/scenario that you’ve been wondering about and would like to discuss during the workshop, please send the question/scenario to both Nancy (nancy@familymattersmediation.me) and Shannon (shannon.thompson@mainefcm.org).  Thank you!

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Facilitator: Nancy Morin is a retired family law attorney with more than two decades of experience working with families in crisis in the Mid Coast area. Along with her family law practice, Nancy served as a private mediator for divorce and family matters cases, and as a guardian ad litem. As a guardian ad litem, Nancy served in both Title 19-A and Title 22 matters, focusing on the children's needs. Nancy helped establish the Court House Assistance Project in West Bath District Court, volunteering monthly to offer legal advice for both family and protection from abuse matters. Since her retirement in 2021, Nancy has served as a court rostered mediator, and a private mediator for divorce and family matters.

Education

Certificate Program in Mediation, University of Southern Maine, 2007

J.D., University of Maine School of Law, 1997, Moot Court Board

B.A. History/English, summa cum laude, University of Southern Maine, 1994

REGISTRATION CLOSES OCTOBER 18TH

Cost: Free

Older age is often associated with disease and decline and there is good reason for that—our society socially constructed it that way! To support older adults who may need the services of Maine Family & Community Mediation it is important to understand why our society views aging the way it does AND what is in our power to address. As with many programs it starts with the people who are assisting others. Gain some key points and participate in experiential learning as well as discussion to make this a vibrant session.

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Facilitator:

Marilyn R. Gugliucci, MA, PhD, is a Professor and the Director of Geriatrics Research at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine (UNECOM). She is also the Founding Director of U-ExCEL (UNE~Exercise and Conditioning for Easier Living) Fitness/Wellness Program for older adults and co-chairs the Age Friendly University initiatives at UNE. Her unique Learning by Living Research Projects offer two tracks: (1) The Nursing Home Immersion that "admits" medical students into nursing homes to live the life of an elder resident for 2-weeks; and (2) The 48 Hour Hospice Home Immersion that immerses pairs of medical students into an 18 bed inpatient acute care hospice home for 48 hours to conduct patient care, family support, and post-mortem care. She also conducts research on older adult falls prevention.

Dr. Gugliucci is a Fellow of four National Associations. She serves on national and state boards and committees, and was the former president for the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education.

Although not a nurse, she was a mentor for the International Honor Society of Nurses/Hartford Foundation Geriatrics Nursing Leadership Academy. Dr. Gugliucci has been recognized with a number of state and national awards. She lectures both nationally and internationally and has multiple publications in the field of aging.

Cost: Free

The Penobscot Nation utilizes Native American customs and traditions to explore alternative responses to criminal justice. Thus, the Nation has explored the delivery of justice by systemic, multi-disciplinary problem solving; rather than punishment based intervention. This discussion will focus on: the structure of a Healing to Wellness Court, incorporating tradition and culture, and the braided services approach in a team setting.

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Facilitators:

Eric M. Mehnert has served as the Chief Judge of the Penobscot Nation Tribal Court since 2008. He is a member of the Inter-Tribal Working Group on implementing Tribal Jurisdiction under VAWA and presides over the Nation’s Criminal and Civil Courts as well as the Nation’s Healing to Wellness Court.

Rhonda Decontie (Algonquin and Penobscot) is the Magistrate Judge of the Penobscot Nation Tribal Court and has served the Penobscot Nation’s Judicial System since 2011, becoming the Clerk of the Court in 2014.