Just under one hundred local professionals will participate in five full-day interactive certificated workshops between 17 and 21 September in Barbados dealing with Preventing A Toxic Workplace, Trust Leadership/Mediation in the Workplace and Sexual Harassment. The first two afore-mentioned workshops will be conducted on the premises of an established organisation on 17 and 18 September, while the remaining three workshops will take place at the Accra Beach Hotel & Spa where individuals, public and private sector personnel have signed up to attend on 19, 20 and 21 September.

Preventing a Toxic Workplace workshop will be a restorative practice and interactive relationship development training programme aimed at improving communication and listening skills. It will enable participants to move from win-lose outcomes to mutual gain (win-win) results in personal interactions and help to maintain successful, healthy relationships.

The Trust Leadership/Mediation in the Workplace workshop is also an interactive training programme which educates and trains persons in the workplace in collaborative arts and advocacy skills for recognition and early intervention of conflict resolution. Trust leader mediation skills training will increase participants’ understanding of the nature of conflict, often classified into five conflict modes of avoiding, competing, accommodating, compromising and collaborating.

In December 2017, Barbados introduced a Sexual Harassment Act. Sexual Harassment can be a cancer that destroys relationships and workplaces. This interactive workshop is an excellent opportunity for participants to learn about, understand and formulate practices which might avoid damaging situations in the workplace or social environment.

Dr John-Robert Curtin and Mr Tony Belak will be two of the presenters at the five Workshops. They have between them over 50 years of mediation experience as practical mediators. They have taught and trained in excess of 4,000 mediators worldwide, including US Government officials.

Dr Curtin and Mr Belak teach graduate and undergraduate courses in mediation at the University of Louisville and in 2002, created the first blended, online and face-to-face mediation programme for a major law firm that needed flexibility in its training. Additionally, Ms Ella N. Hoyos, Attorney-at-Law/Arbitrator/Mediator at Rockley Law Group, will present and lead discussions on the Sexual Harassment Act 2017 at the 21 September workshop.

Dr Paul Quantock, Chairman of the Caribbean Training and Research Group (CARI-TARG), a UK-based international entity, is delighted that CARI-TARG has expanded its first (June 2017) half-day interactive workshops programme in Barbados in 2018.

“Participants in the 2018 Workshops will enjoy and experience broad and meaningful discussions with experienced workshop practitioners, while exploring solutions to real-life situations. They will enhance their interpersonal skills and develop relationships through communication – the art of listening, understanding and always being reasonable. Resolving potential issues of conflict in a personable, peaceful and non-confrontational way is the feature participants will most benefit from.”

Workshop certification is jointly endorsed by the Urban and Public Affairs, University of Louisville (US), 4Civility (US), La Sierra University (USA) and CARI-TARG (UK). Had-Way Consulting is CARI-TARG’s local associate in Barbados.