Reflections

Written by: Paula Drouin, Founder and Director of ADR International Group Inc. and ADR Learning Institute Do you feel honored by the invitations you receive? To be invited to a birthday or Thanksgiving dinner or simply an invite to hang out with someone. If you receive many invitations and have a lively social life these invitations may have become commonplace and appear of less value than they are. As we age, we often receive less invitations than in our earlier years. I remember a time when responding to invitations was just a to-do item I had to fit into [...]

Photo: Walking in Canada viewing the USA across the water taken by the author. Written by: Paula Drouin, Founder and Director of ADR Learning Institute (with some research help from Gemini) Unless you live close to a border between countries, you may be oblivious to the unique impacts changes in national relations can have. I am working in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario this week among people who spent decades driving across the bridge to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Just to pick up a few things, have coffee with family and friends, go berry picking.  People who are used [...]

Written by: Paula Drouin, Founder and Director of ADR Learning Institute Do you remember when you had to go to school?  When new knowledge was presented every school day and you were given homework and time in class to practice new things, go to recess, take lunch breaks, do sports and sit in an art class. Now as an adult do you ever wish you could step away from the endless demands of adulting and just be a student again?  Some of you may be able to quit work or take a sabbatical to go back to school fulltime.  [...]

Written by: Soleida Perez, Program Director, ADR Learning Institute Listening as a Relational Practice: Reflections from the Mont Tremblant Gathering Earlier this month, mediators, facilitators, coaches, peacebuilders, and dialogue practitioners gathered in Mont Tremblant, Quebec to explore a deceptively simple question: What conditions allow humans to truly listen to one another? This inquiry began at the World Mediation Summit in 2024, continued through the Mediterranean Mediators Gathering in Port-Vendres, France in 2025, and found new expression this year through a series of conversations focused on listening. Throughout the Gathering, participants explored listening from multiple [...]