Workplace Solutions Conducts Training for Occupational Health Program in California

February 27, 2004
Labor Occupational Health Program
Conference

Pictured left: Participants enact a workplace violence simulation during a full-day training session at the University of California at Berkeley in February, 2004

Pictured right: Crisis response team conducts a fact-finding exercise at Berkeley event.

Workplace Solutions Trains Employment
Relations Specialists in Tennessee

October 29-31, 2003
Tennessee Employment Relations Research Association
2003 Annual Conference

Pictured Left: IRRA National Board Member Tia Schneider Denenberg and TERRA Chapter President William Canak (standing) monitor a "crisis response team" exercise during a program on "Bullying and Violence in the Workplace." The program was presented by Tia and Richard Denenberg, the co-directors of Workplace Solutions, at the chapter's Fifth Annual Conference, held on Arnold Air Force Base in Tullahoma, TN.

Pictured Right: John Mauldin and Ashley Heaston of the Speech and Theatre Department at Middle Tennessee State University perform a "crisis simulation" at the TERRA meeting in October, 2003. They enacted a scene of conflict as part of the Workplace Solutions presentation on violence prevention.

Workplace Solutions Goes on the Road
In Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada,
New Jersey, New York, and Oregon

Photo: CNN Anchor Bobbie Battista and Richard V. Denenberg,
Workplace Solutions Director

"Your contributions to the development of the Workplace Violence Keynote Luncheon have enhanced our credibility and stature within the facilities management community." — Ted Coene, Conference Organizer

CNN Anchor Bobbie Battista, host of the interactive news program, "TalkBack Live," appears with Workplace Solutions Director Richard V. Denenberg on April 3, 2000, at the keynote luncheon of Facility Forum 2000, a convention of
facilities managers, held in Atlanta. Among the other speakers at the luncheon were Douglas G. Karpiloff, Manager of Security at New York City's World Trade Center, and Jane Hammond, the School Superintendent of Jefferson County, Colorado, which includes Columbine High School, scene of the
nation's most serious school shooting. "Your contributions to the development of the Workplace Violence Keynote Luncheon have enhanced our credibility and stature within the facilities management community," Conference Organizer Ted Coene later wrote to Denenberg. "Many attendees said that it was the highlight of our conference."

"You were simultaneously organized, stimulating, and responsive to the audience." — John F. Burton, Jr., Meeting Chairman

On March 6, Richard and Tia Denenberg spoke on the topic of workplace violence to the New Jersey Chapter of the Industrial Relations Research Association (March 6, 2000). The chair of the meeting, John F. Burton, Jr., who is the Dean of the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University, chaired the meeting. Dean Burton extended the group's thanks for a "superb presentation." The dean commented: "You were simultaneously organized, stimulating, and responsive to the audience."

"Preventing Workplace Violence in the Schools:
A Collaborative Approach"
Fourteenth Annual Conference —
"Education & Leadership for Safe Schools"
Conflict Resolution Education Network
Boston University Conference Center
Boston, MA
July 25-27, 1999

A Workplace Solutions team presented an intensive, four-hour workshop on “Preventing Workplace Violence in the Schools: A Collaborative Approach” at Boston University on July 26, 1999. The workshop was part of the Fourteenth Annual Conference of the Conflict Resolution Education Network, which is affiliated with the National Institute for Dispute Resolution in Washington, DC. The theme of the conference was “Education & Leadership for Safe Schools,” a subject that has taken on great urgency in the wake of the multiple murders at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado a few months earlier.

The workshop presenters were Richard and Tia Denenberg, Co-Directors of Workplace Solutions; Mediator/Arbitrator Marcia Greenbaum; David Hinds, an attorney who formerly headed the in-house dispute resolution program at the Polaroid Corporation; and Bonnie Prouty Castrey, who is a mediator/arbitrator and a trustee of the Huntington Beach Union High School District Board in California.

The presenters emphasized the importance of involving all stakeholders in violence prevention measures for the schools. They also discussed the use of conflict resolutions skills in building stakeholder coalitions as well as in relieving the tensions that can erupt into violence. Workshop participants came from states in New England, the Mid-Atlantic region and the South.

Photo Caption: Tia Schneider Denenberg of Workplace Solutions confers with
Jordan Barab of the US Department of Labor (center) and Human Resources
Administrator Robert L. Chiaravalli at meeting of the Industrial Relations
Research Association in New York.

"Workplace Violence:
Issues for Labor and Management"
at 51st Annual Meeting
Industrial Relations Research Association
Grand Hyatt Hotel
New York City, January 5, 1999

Click here for summary of session:

SESSION SUMMARY

Left photo: Mark Braverman of Workplace Solutions (left) gives advice to Southwest conference participants. Middle & right photos: Mark Braverman and Tia Schneider Denenberg confer with attendees at Las Vegas meeting.

"Preventing Workplace Violence:
A Collaborative Solution"
at the Southwest Labor-Management Conference
Las Vegas, Nevada
December 13 to 16, 1998

A Workplace Solutions team participates in the Southwest Labor-Management Conference, held at Caesar's Palace Hotel in Las Vegas. The conference was sponsored by the Industrial Relations Research Association, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, and the American Arbitration Association. The team, consisting of Mark Braverman, Tia Schneider Denenberg and Richard V. Denenberg, presented a session on workplace violence prevention and conferred individually with scores of attendees.

Workplace Solutions Principal Mark Braverman, Ph.D. lectures to state officials in Salem, Oregon, on violence prevention strategies. The session, held on November 20, 1998, was sponsored by the Oregon Dispute Resolution Commission and the Oregon Mediation Association.

To read, save or print a copy of the program, click for details:

PRESENTATION PROGRAM

Tia Schneider Denenberg and Mark Braverman of Workplace Solutions, deliver
keynote presentation to a plenary session at the annual meeting of the Oregon Chapter, Industrial Relations Research Association. The session was held at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland on November 19, 1998.

To read, save or print a copy of the program, click for details:

PRESENTATION PROGRAM

"Preventing Workplace Violence
in the Public Schools"
at the 26th Annual Conference
Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution
October 15-17, Portland Oregon

Mediator Bonnie Prouty Castrey of Workplace Solutions (standing right) and
John Lenssen of the Oregon Department of Education (seated at microphone)
speak on school violence at the SPIDR Annual Conference in Portland, Oregon.

Comments From the Audience

"I have long been interested in the connection between effective mediation systems and violence prevention. It is equally relevant in schools and workplaces, and your panel did an excellent job identifying the unique characteristics of schools which make them particularly vulnerable workplaces.

Dispute resolution professionals do well to develop a sophisticated approach to these types of vulnerable workplaces. Appreciating situational specificity in workplaces is one
of the most fascinating parts of a mediator's job."

Alison S. Kelley
Attorney
Salem, Oregon

"Schools and their local law enforcement agencies should partner to obtain federal grant money to promote teaching alternate dispute resolution skills in the classroom as a means of crime prevention. The Hillsboro, Oregon, Police Department has done this, acquiring peer mediation training and resource materials such as videos, posters, activity books and information pamphlets — all at no cost to our school district-for grades K - 12. There
is no better way to build bridges in the community and effectively use our tax dollars to help our schools with their awesome task of teaching our kids to be quality community members."

Patti Williams
Staff Assistant, Police Department
Hillsboro, Oregon

To read, save or print a copy of the transcript,
click the link to view the 53-page document:

PRESENTATION TRANSCRIPT

Workplace Solutions Team Urges
Chicago Conferees to Consider
Violence Prevention Strategies

On April 8, 1998, a Workplace Solutions team spoke at the Ninth Labor-Management Conference in Chicago. Sponsored by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the event was the largest conference of its kind ever held in the United States, attracting about 2,000 participants. Most participants were concerned with perfecting mechanisms for labor-management cooperation. Our team addressed the subject of "Preventing Violence in the Workplace" by collaborative means and engaged in a dialogue with the audience afterward. Many experiences were shared. The team members were Clinical Psychologist Mark Braverman, Ph.D., Mediator/Attorney Bonnie Prouty Castrey, Author Richard V. Denenberg, and Arbitrator/Mediator Tia Schneider Denenberg. The session was recorded and transcribed.

To read, save or print a copy of the transcript,
click the link to view the 28-page document:

PRESENTATION TRANSCRIPT

Topic-related Links

Nova Southeastern University - http://www.nova.edu
Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences - http://www.nova.edu/shss/
Department of Conflict Analysis and Resolution - http://shss.nova.edu/DCAR/     Department of Marriage and Family Therapy - http://shss.nova.edu/FT/