Navigating family disputes and relationship breakdowns is fraught with challenges and takes a special touch. Few people understand that better than new Kompass instructor Dora Dang.
Dora has over 20 years of experience as a mediator, arbitrator, facilitator, coach, and instructor. She also has her own company, Leap Divorce Solutions, that focuses on mediation arbitrations and financial analysis for divorce.
We connected with Dora recently to learn more about her and what she brings to the alternative dispute resolution programs at Kompass. Here’s how that conversation went.
Dora: I have a BA in justice studies and I am certified in conflict leadership through assessments by the ADR Institute of Canada. I’m a Chartered Mediator, Chartered Arbitrator, and Chartered Med-Arb. I do a lot of combined mediation and arbitration in the family law area.
I’m a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, which is an American designation from the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts (IDFA). I’m also a member of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC). Between the IDFA and the AFCC, I get a breadth and depth of the international perspective, which is quite cool.
I am a Registered Family Mediator in Alberta and I am a member of Family Mediation Canada.
Basically, my goal is to help clients in whatever way they want me to help them so they can avoid the court process. I help them gain insights on their impasses in their relationship and figure out how to move forward.
I do a variety of different things, but my main area of expertise is family law.
Dora: I’m just fascinated by the skills that are required to be a mediator. We are always mindful and consistently maintaining that neutral space for all parties to be involved.
I have alliances with a police agency here in Alberta and I help their members with their family disputes. So when they come in, they may be fighting on all sorts of fronts. But I help them bring it together. I try to maintain that neutral space so that I can de-escalate. And then when they finish the meeting, they’re like, OK, I think I can chew on this and move forward. That excites me.
Dora: As an instructor at Mount Royal University for the past four years, I taught online dispute resolution. I’ve supervised hundreds of students across Canada, from Newfoundland to BC and places in between.
After each semester I implement feedback from both the students and the faculty to enhance the online engagement and get a sense of students’ interests. Then I incorporate their perspectives—maybe more virtual classroom practices, for example, or more communication exchanges with students.
I try to guide them toward achieving their goals in a productive and supportive environment.
Dora: It’s kind of like jazz. We all play different instruments. You could be a fantastic piano player. You could also have your solo, and that’s great. But when we all come together, we synthesize this amazing piece. So as a mediator, you’re the person who’s like, OK, you’re good at piano. You’re good at saxophone. I’ll let you solo or you check out the other places, but when you synthesize, you have this piece of music that’s amazing.
Dispute resolution is like music that is always ongoing. It’s not a score that you read. You have to go from A to B, but it’s ever evolving. It’s organic. It’s fluid. And as you go along with each other, you’re able to find that symphony, and it’s always unique.
The key is to be mindful, and curious, and aware of your cognitive biases.
Dora: The ability to build rapport is so important. As a mediator, you have to bridge the space between your clients and yourself. If you can’t build that rapport, you won’t be able to land that contract.
My superpower is that I have a lot of empathy. So when I hear what a client is saying, I truly empathize with what’s going on. For example, I might say, “Wow, it must be really hard working so many hours and then when you come home you’re emotionally tapped out. But you know that your spouse is here and wants to converse with you, right?” So it’s just that empathy to understand what they’re going through.
I may or may not agree with certain things. But I’m not going to not show that I can relate.
Dora: Get involved. Be part of the community. It’s great that you have the education, but you can’t operate in silos. You have to know what’s going on.
For instance, I serve as a director for the board of the ADR Institute of Alberta. I was the treasurer and I’m currently the affiliate representative on the board of ADRIC. I was also the chair of the Committee for Skills Development at the Community Mediation Calgary Society.
You have to be out there connecting. Don’t be shy. Just forge ahead, and if you have missteps, that’s OK. You’ll learn even more.
Kompass Professional Development offers online training in mediation, family mediation, and arbitration. All three certificate programs are accredited by the ADR Institute of Canada and the ADR Institute of Ontario and take no more than 12 weeks to complete.
Click below to learn more.