Transformative Mediation Certification

A Great Year For Utah Professionals & USU Students

This year, the Heravi Peace Institute partnered with Utah Dispute Resolution and Disagree Better Initiative (originally created by Utah Governor Spencer Cox) to create a Transformative Mediation Certificate open to students and community members.

Led and taught by USU associate professor Chad Ford, this program emphasizes transformation and healing in the mediation process, including an intensive three-day training that covers the Inner Work of Mediation, the Narrative and Relational Dimensions of Mediation, and finally, Integration and Application.

The certificate course is taught in two different formats – one for USU students and one for professionals. PI 3100, Transformative Mediation piloted with USU undergraduate students in the Fall of 2026 and will be expanding to USU graduate student in the 2026-2027 Academic Year (PI 6000). The course is also being offered in an intensive three-day, 40 hour in-person format for professional mediators, social workers, attorneys, HR professionals, therapists and others seeking meditation training four times a year in SLC, Logan and in Washington DC in the Fall. Both versions of the program include academic instruction, reflective exercises, and extensive role-playing opportunities. In each of the professional cohorts, Professor Ford invited students from his undergraduate Transformative Mediation class to participate in the role-plays, creating a unique, interdisciplinary, and diverse space for all participants and students involved.

This mediation training marks the beginning of an expanded collaboration, with plans for a train-the-trainer program and a Graduate Certificate in Conflict Transformation through Utah State University set to be implemented in Academic Year 2026-2027. Additionally, specialized courses in family, environmental, interfaith, and restorative justice mediation are scheduled to commence in 2027 as well.