About our 2026 Workshop Presenters
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Rachel Birnbaum
Dr. Rachel Birnbaum teaches at King's University College, Western London, Ontario. She has over 30 years of clinical experience working with children and families in high conflict disputes.
Allana Boussey
Allana Boussey is a Registered Social Worker with a Master’s degree in Social Work and is currently awaiting accreditation with the Ontario Association for Family Mediation (OAFM). She brings over 15 years of experience supporting families in distress through therapeutic and collaborative processes, and most recently through mediation. Allana integrates her work with the neurodivergent community into her mediation practice, with a focus on reducing conflict, preserving family integrity, and centering the needs of children. She is privileged to work alongside Caroline Felstiner as her teacher, mentor, and now colleague.
Satinder Brar
Satinder is a Registered Psychotherapist and an Accredited Family Mediator. She has expertise supporting clients at all stages of their relationships with extensive experience and training in couples therapy and mediation. Being a TEDx speaker and multiple-time Reader's Choice Award recipient makes her a highly sought-after professional in her community. Satinder brings a compassionate, practical and empowering approach to her work, fostering personal growth and emotional well-being. Her work focuses on helping individuals navigate conflict with clarity and respect. Encouraging constructive dialogue, she guides families toward future-focused agreements. Satinder resides in Peel Region and is a mother to two young men. She is an avid traveler and loves winter-time.
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Jennifer Donison
Jennifer offers a unique blend of personal experience, professional expertise, and unwavering dedication to helping individuals and families navigate the challenging journey of divorce. Jennifer has also personally been impacted by divorce with young children. This personal experience has shaped her approach and allowed her to truly empathize with the emotions, uncertainties, and hurdles that come with divorce. At the heart Jennifer's practice is a fundamental belief in the importance of prioritizing children's well-being during divorce. "Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly."
Jim Doxtdator
Jim Doxtdator is an Accredited Family, Child Protection and Intergenerational Mediator serving his community of Six Nations and the surrounding areas of Brantford, Simcoe, Cayuga, Hamilton, London and beyond. He is the Director of his company, Peace Builder Mediation and uses the Indigenous Dispute Resolution approach in all aspects of his practice.
Cilvy Dupras
Cilvy is a bilingual Sexologist, Registered Psychotherapist, and Family Mediator who is deeply passionate about helping individuals, couples, and families heal and grow. She believes that being truly heard with kindness and respect can be transformative. Cilvy supports clients facing stress, trauma, conflict, and intimacy challenges, using compassionate, trauma-informed approaches such as EMDR and IFS. She is genuinely curious about who her clients are and who they are becoming at their best. Whether working with individuals, couples, or families, Cilvy is honored to walk alongside them on their path toward healing and meaningful connection.
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Caroline Felstiner
Caroline is a registered social worker and accredited family mediator. She completed her MSW at the University of Toronto in 2001. Caroline became a family mediator in 2011 and collaborative professional in 2014 with the aim of helping parents and their children transition through separation without the destruction of a fraught battle. In her free time you will find Caroline at the water's edge.
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Brian Galbraith
Brian Galbraith, B.A., LL.B., LL.M, is a leading figure in Collaborative Practice and past President of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals. He helped establish the Ontario Association of Collaborative Professionals and has trained hundreds of professionals locally and internationally. Brian has delivered keynote addresses in Europe and the United States and has led numerous strategic planning initiatives for Collaborative Practice groups. As founder of a four‑office Ontario law firm with 22 Collaborative Practice lawyers, he is dedicated to peaceful resolutions. A father and grandfather, Brian values family, community service through Rotary, travel, and cheering on the Toronto Raptors.
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Debbie Hoffman
Debbie lives in Waterloo, Ontario. Born in Renfrew, Ontario she is Woodland Métis, an Algonquin of the Pikwàkanagàn First Nation. Debbie went to high school in Red Deer, Alberta and moved to the Whitehorse, Yukon in 1994. She was called to the bar in the Yukon and British Columbia in 1995. Debbie lived in the Yukon for 22 years, specializing in family law and general civil litigation.
Trained as a collaborative lawyer and mediator, Debbie has always been interested in keeping families out of court. When she moved back to her Southern Ontario roots in 2016, Debbie continued to practice family law and dedicated her practice to collaborative conflict resolution and mediation.
Alex Howard
With an undergraduate degree from the University of British Columbia, and years of running a successful events business, Alex switched gears to a more meaningful path of helping others through the difficulty of separation and divorce. After completing schooling from both Humber College and York University, Alex opened her practice with the goal of using a facilitative and transformative approach to supporting clients through the often cathartic and always empowering process of Alternative Dispute Resolution..
With over two decades working with people in stressful situations, with elevated emotions and heightened angst, Alex is no stranger to the difficulties that those in conflict face.
As Co-Host of the Divorce Podcast, Dirty Laundry, Alex is a leading expert in the field of separation and divorce and is on a mission to de-stigmatize and educate those on that path.
Brad Hunter
Brad is a family mediator, arbitrator, and collaborative lawyer with Regina’s Couture Miller LLP. A former chair of the CBA National Family Law Section and IACP board member, Brad was the founding president of Collaborative Professionals of Saskatchewan. Having trained practitioners across North America and Australia, he now blends decades of "old lawyer" wisdom with a passion for modern innovation. Brad believes AI is the next essential member of the collaborative team, empowering professionals to serve families with greater precision and care.
Ibrahim Hussain
Ibrahim is an award-winning dispute resolution expert and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb). With over a decade of experience, he has resolved 100+ complex disputes across commercial, family, and community sectors. As the founder of Sulha Solutions, he designs and oversees custom ADR frameworks, achieving a 75% settlement rate in multi-party mediations. Ibrahim is a Ministry-appointed mediator and arbitrator, serving on the rosters of the Ontario Mandatory Mediation Program and the Toronto Commercial Arbitration Society (TCAS). He is a certified pioneer in Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) and a facilitator trained in restorative justice frameworks. His work is grounded in a deep understanding of cross-cultural conflict, and he is the author of "Sulha: 40 Narrations on Conciliation." Fluent in six languages, including Arabic, Urdu, and Punjabi, Ibrahim brings a unique, practical, and culturally-attuned perspective to the art of family peacemaking.
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Annette Katchaluba
Annette Katchaluba MSW, RSW, is a seasoned family professional who specializes in fostering effective dispute resolution and improving co-parenting relationships. Annette is skilled in developing child-centred parenting plans that account for complex issues such as addictions, mental health, high-conflict situations, and differing capacities in parents. In addition to her direct clinical practice, Annette provides training on relational dynamics/ Intimate Partner and Power Imbalance Screening to service providers and frontline professionals and Collaborative Family Law Training. Her commitment to improved long-term outcomes, reducing conflict and prioritizing people has made her a respected voice and advocate within the field.
Krista Kondra
Krista Konrad is a Social Worker, Family Mediator, and therapist whose work focuses on conflict, trauma, and major life transitions. Her practice includes trauma-informed psychotherapy, separation and divorce support, co-parenting coaching and discernment counselling. Krista brings a relational, attachment-informed, and compassion-based lens to her work, with particular attention to complex family dynamics. She incorporates structured coaching and mediation processes, including the New Ways for Families approach, into her work with high-conflict parenting situations.
Matthew Krofchick
Matthew Krofchick, CBV, CMA, CPA, CMC, CFF, FDRP VAL, ABV, is a Principal at Krofchick Valuations in Toronto where he specializes in forensic accounting, damage quantification, business valuations, and income determinations. Matthew provides expert witness testimony and his reports have been used in multiple provinces. Matthew is the chair of the Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario (FDRIO) and sits on a number of other non-profit boards. He has been active in the CICBV in organizing webinars, seminars, the annual congress, and spearheaded the joint retainer project and family law small groups. Matthew has previously presented to many organizations on topics including business valuations in the context of marital breakdowns, emerging issues and methodologies in pension valuations, damage quantification, cryptocurrency, and income determination for the purpose of determining spousal support. Matthew has also authored and co-authored a number of articles dealing with the financial issues surrounding marital breakdowns.
“Most cases should settle out of court”.
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Lacey Lewis
Lacey's professional interest are to assist and aid her community through cultural congruence by way of Indigenous Dispute Resolution IDR. Lacey is a Charteres Mediator with more than two decades of experience. She specializes in the human service sector working with Indigenous children and youth, child welfare, bands and Indigenous Service Canada by way of Jordans Principle. Lacey is also a certified Adult Educator and has created, consulted and trained multiple adult learners in IDR, Intimate Partner Violence IPV, Impacts of Colonization etc. One of Lacey's standing achievements is the creation, design and implementation of an Indigenous Dispute Resolution programs that continues to have much sucess in assisting Indigenous family's. Finally, Lacey is the founder of Indigenous Child Service Management Ltd that has been in operation for ten years focusing on consulting, advocacy, training, education and Indigenous mediation.
STACEY leger
Stacey Leger is a Registered Social Worker, Accredited Family Mediator and Collaborative Family Professional with over a decade of clinical and dispute resolution experience. She holds a Master of Social Work and a post-graduate certificate in Alternative Dispute Resolution from York University. Stacey specializes in family-centered mediation, collaborative divorce, and the integration of therapeutic principles within high-conflict family systems. Her clinical background includes extensive work with adolescents, adults, and families navigating crisis, separation, and compromised mental health. Prior to private practice, Stacey worked in acute psychiatry at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and provided counselling for Hamilton Family Health System supporting individuals and families in their journey for emotional wellness.
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Amrit Malhotra
Amrit Malhotra holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Toronto and is registered with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers. Amrit is an Accredited Family Mediator, and Collaborative Family Professional with specialized expertise in fertility counselling and third-party reproduction. She is registered with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers supporting individuals, couples, and families as they navigate complex personal and family transitions.
With over three decades of experience in healthcare social work, Amrit has worked extensively in high-acuity hospital environments including Critical Care, Emergency, Labour and Delivery, Pediatrics, Sexual Assault, Mental Health, and General Medicine. This diverse clinical background has shaped her compassionate, trauma-informed approach and her ability to guide clients through challenging and emotionally sensitive situations.
In addition to her clinical work, she provides Organizational Trauma Debriefings for Employee and Family Assistance Programs, helping teams process and recover from critical workplace incidents. She has also contributed to the advancement of collaborative practice through her service as a board member with Collaborative Divorce Peel–Halton and Collaborative Divorce Toronto.
Adam McKinley
Adam is an Accredited Family and Child Protection Mediator and certified New Ways for Families coach and one of the co-pioneers of Bridging Family Conflict’s use of this program in high conflict parenting and child protection mediation. Adam is also a highly experienced coach in INSIGHTful Mediation’s Training programs as well as for the Simulated Role Play Course. As a father of four (4), Adam keeps busy with his children as well as his secret passion of becoming a famous bass player in a funk rock band.
Stacey Mendelson
I am a high-conflict Divorce Coach and strategist. | partner with lawyers to improve client outcomes by helping them stay calm, credible, and easy to work with. I transform anxious parents into calm, compelling clients so they can strategically navigate a difficult ex, custody assessments, and an unforgiving court system.
Fun facts:
I was a veterinarian for 24 years
I am an avid cyclist.
Stephanie morningstar
Stephanie is a land-based mediator, the Interim Executive Director of the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance (NAFSA), and a co-founder of the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust. She brings over 15 years of training and practice in mediation, restorative and transformative justice, and land-based conflict resolution. Her work weaves together ecological restoration, cultural revitalization, and governance, centering on how people relate to land and one another. A practitioner of biocultural re-storyation, Stephanie studies the impacts of land dispossession and the transformative power of reconnecting with land that has been healed and rematriated through right relationship.
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Amanda Silver
Amanda is co-host of the divorce podcast Dirty Laundry, a candid and compassionate space dedicated to destigmatizing separation through honest conversations, expert insight, and humor. She is an Accredited Family Mediator, Court-Connected Family Mediator, and Child Protection Mediator, and a member of the Ontario Association for Family Mediation. Amanda provides comprehensive family mediation services and divorce coaching, supporting individuals through the emotional and practical realities of separation. Having experienced divorce herself, she brings both professional expertise and lived insight to her work. Whether behind the microphone or at the mediation table, Amanda’s goal remains the same: to reduce shame, increase understanding, and help people move forward - better informed, better supported, and maybe even laughing a little along the way.
Jennifer Suzor
Jennifer Suzor is a respected family mediator, trainer, and educator dedicated to advancing thoughtful and effective approaches to conflict resolution. A Past President of the Ontario Association for Family Mediation, Jennifer has decades of experience in policy development for the CDR community and working with families navigating separation and complex conflict.
Through her work as the founder of INSIGHTful Mediation Training, Jennifer trains and mentors new and experienced mediators, equipping them with practical skills and deeper frameworks for facilitating meaningful dialogue and durable agreements. Her teaching emphasizes the Insight Mediation approach, supporting mediators in helping parties move beyond positions toward deeper understanding and more sustainable resolutions.
Jennifer is known for her engaging and reflective training style, and for her commitment to strengthening the mediation profession through education, mentorship, and community leadership. Her work continues to influence how mediators support families in building healthier paths forward.
In her heart of hearts, Jennifer also wishes she were a comedian—though she’s discovered that a sense of humour can be surprisingly useful in mediation as well.
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Lara Traum
Lara Traum, Esq. is a New York–based mediator, collaborative attorney, and parenting coordinator at Roytberg Traum Law & Mediation, P.C., focusing on family, matrimonial, and cross-cultural dispute resolution in the US and internationally. A past President of the New York State Council on Divorce Mediation, she is a frequent national and international lecturer on mediation, collaborative practice, and conflict wellness. Lara is the co-author of Effectively Representing Clients in Family Mediation (ABA, 2023), Family Lawyer as Peacemaker (ABA, 2026) and the forthcoming book Essential Guide to Mediating Family Disputes (ABA 2027). A native New Yorker, she serves clients in English and in Russian.
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Jonathan Virtue
Jonathan Virtue is a collaborative family lawyer with a practice grounded in curiosity, systems thinking, and dignified conflict resolution. He works with separating families, mediators, mental-health professionals, and financial neutrals, and is particularly interested in how internal dynamics shape external conflict. Jonathan integrates the Internal Family Systems model into collaborative practice as both a conceptual framework and a practical tool for helping clients—and professionals—navigate reactivity, protectiveness, and change with greater clarity and compassion. He values interdisciplinary dialogue and is especially drawn to conversations that bridge insight, structure, and lived experience.