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2010 Workshops
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Sue Ann Allen has twenty years experience as the Training Director for the Dispute Resolution Center of King County. She oversees the training of the Center mediators and designs courses for the public, both standard workshops offered by the Center in conflict resolution skills and courses tailored for specific clients. Ms. Allen holds academic degrees in secondary education from Central Michigan University and in community development from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Ms. Allen’s extensive background in intercultural conflict resolution has led to a focus in that area. She has lived and worked in Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as in diverse communities in the U.S. Her workshops are experiential and focus on increasing participants’ tools to handle conflict.
Sandra Barto holds three degrees from Seattle University in Seattle, Washington. She has a B.A. in Community Service (1973), an M.A.Ed. in Counseling and Guidance (1975) and a J.D (2005). She has been a mediator since 1999 and has over 250 hours of training in facilitative mediation, communication, and family mediation. Sandy has been a mentor mediator for the Dispute Resolution Center of King County mediator practicum since 2003. She has also worked on staff at the Dispute Resolution Center of King County, holding a variety of positions. She is currently Family Mediation Coordinator.
Sue Ann Birdwell is a licensed marriage and family therapist. She holds a Masters degree in clinical psychology from Antioch University, Seattle, as well as a Bachelors degree in education from Concordia University, Montreal. She combines her knowledge of education, child development, and psychology to provide strength-based, culturally sensitive counseling for couples, children and families. She specializes in helping families through difficult transitions, such as separation, divorce, and remarriage. She is a child specialist and divorce coach in the field of collaborative divorce, as well as a family law court-appointed special advocate. She helps families draft parenting plans, and performs parenting and family assessments for mediation, cooperative and collaborative law.
Meiko Blosser is a mediator and trainer, with a specialization in intercultural communication. Having lived nineteen years overseas has provided her with many opportunities to witness miscommunication and conflict based in perceptual differences. These experiences have fueled her passion for understanding and facilitating effective communication. Meiko serves as a Supervising Mediator with the Dispute Resolution Center’s Small Claims Court Program in the King County Courts and as a Mentor Mediator training student-mediators. She is a trainer in both conflict resolution skills through the Dispute Resolution Center and in intercultural awareness and communication through her private practice working with corporate clients, such as BMW, Immunex Corporation, Microsoft, and Boeing. Meiko completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Sciences with a certificate in Middle East Studies from Portland State University and received her Professional Mediation Skills Training through the University of Washington Law School. She currently holds certification as a mediator with the Dispute Resolution Center of King County, as an English Language Teacher for Adults (Cambridge/RSA) from St. Giles College in Brighton, England, and Intermediate Level German from the University of Munich. English is her native language, and she is fluent in German and proficient in Japanese.
Cathy Goldman, M.A. has mediated extensively in family, community and educational disputes. She is a principal in Mediation Matters, a full service mediation firm, and coordinates the Parent-Teen Mediation program for the Bellevue Neighborhood Mediation Center. She is a trainer and mentor mediator with the Dispute Resolution Center of King County. Cathy helped design and presently facilitates an 8 hour training on “Dealing with Difficult Situations with Tenants” and “Dealing with Mental Health Issues in Housing.” She holds an MA in Conflict Resolution from the McGregor School of Antioch University.
Estera Gordon has over 25 years of commercial litigation experience. She focuses her practice on providing legal and factual analysis and written argument for motions, trials, and appeals. Areas of practice include contract, real estate, construction, condemnation, trust/probate, business, and environmental disputes. Estera also consults with litigation and transactional attorneys regarding mediation and alternative dispute resolution strategies and procedures. Estera is a trained and experienced mediator. She serves on AAA, Federal Rule 39.1, and USPS mediation panels, and is certified by the Washington Mediation Association for Business/Consumer, Labor/Employment and Construction Mediation. She has been a Dispute Resolution Center of King County volunteer since 1991, mediating hundreds of disputes and providing conflict resolution training to new mediators and business professionals. She also arbitrates under the King County Superior Court Mandatory Arbitration Rules.
Peggy Hoban is a collaborative family law attorney and mediator. She has a B.A. in English and Spanish from Indiana University (1983), an M.A. in Applied Linguistics from Indiana University (1986), and a J.D. from Seattle University (2002). She primarily practices collaborative family law and mediation. Prior to coming to the practice of law, she taught English abroad and at the community college level. She brings cross-cultural sensitivity to her mediation practice, having lived abroad in Lima, Peru and Tegucigalpa, Honduras. She enjoys practicing yoga and spending time with her two teenage children.
Sarah Knowles serves as a Small Claims Court Mediator, Mentor Mediator, Coach, and Trainer for the Dispute Resolution Center of King County. She completed her basic mediation training and practicum through the Dispute Resolution Center of Snohomish and Island Counties, trained high school students and teachers with Conflict Equals Opportunity in Everett, and has been an instructor for Pacific Crest Outward Bound School and National Outdoor Leadership School. Sarah holds a JD degree from Seattle University School of Law and a graduate certificate in Organizational Psychology from Antioch University. She is a member of the Washington State Bar and is an Administrative Law Judge with the Office of Administrative Hearings for both the Department of Social and Health Services and the Employment Security Department. Her experience includes arbitrating and trying cases in commercial law, Clean Water Act research for the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, volunteer attorney for Northwest Women’s Law Center, and attorney for Associated Counsel for the Accused representing indigent clients in criminal cases.
A graduate of UCLA and UC Hastings College of the Law, Ann Levine has devoted her professional life to addressing issues of housing and homelessness, particularly for people with mental health disabilities. Ann has ten years of experience as a housing and disability rights attorney in California. As a former staff attorney and co-director of Mental Health Advocacy Project, Ann has represented over 1,000 individuals with mental health disabilities in fair housing, landlord-tenant and patients’ rights cases in California. She also has coordinated community building activities for one of the largest Housing Authorities in the Pacific Northwest. As a devoted and dynamic educator, she has taught in clinical programs at Stanford University and Golden Gate University Schools of Law. Additionally, Ann has given over 100 trainings to tenants, advocates, housing providers and service providers. Currently, as a nonprofit consultant, Ms. Levine provides guidance to government agencies and nonprofit providers on community convening, community building, program and policy development, outcome measurement, public policy advocacy, collaborative dispute resolution, and fair housing.
Colleen McAuliffe joined the Dispute Resolution Center of King County as a phone conciliator in 2003, where she went on to complete basic mediation training, family mediation training and the mediation practicum. She now serves as a Trainer, Mediator, Mentor Mediator, Coach, Small Claims Court Mediator and Lead Mediator. In addition to her work with the DRC, Colleen is also a volunteer with Executive Services Corporation of Washington, a non profit organization which provides coaching and consulting for other non profits. In addition to her consulting work, she recently served as program manager for the coaching program. Prior to this, Colleen spent 20 years in management with a major national bank. Her experience includes managing the start up and growth activities of new locations, developing and delivering numerous training curricula, directing the activities of numerous geographically diverse processing centers, developing and implementing a nationwide interactive communications forum, and developing consensus for and facilitating strategies to increase business. Colleen received her BS in Education from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. and began her career as an elementary school teacher. She has completed coursework in Applied Behavioral Science at the Leadership Institute of Seattle, The International Association of Certified Facilitators in Everett, WA, and the Academy for Coach Training in Bellevue, WA.
Gayle Murdock is a Senior Director with World Access Holding Company, a business development firm focused on the application of wireless technology patents. Prior to engaging with World Access, Gayle was a Regional Engineering Director for Qwest Communications Services building and leading multi-disciplinary, geographic dispersed teams focused on serving business customers. She has more than 25 years of experience in policy development, planning, negotiations, mediation, product development, operations and engineering in the telecommunications industry. Gayle has held a variety of international, national and local leadership and technical positions. She has an MBA and BA in Business Administration from the University of Washington. Currently Gayle serves on the Center for Ethical Leadership Board of Trustees, participates in the DRC Practicum and volunteers with other organizations.
Karen Nakagawa holds a double Bachelors of Arts degree in Anthropology and Business Degree in Marketing and a law degree from the University of Washington. During law school, Karen was an officer in the Asian-Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA), externed for Judge Karen Overstreet in Federal Bankruptcy Court, and spent summers interning for the law firms of Heller Ehrman and Stokes Lawrence and the Northwest Women's Law Center. Karen has her own law firm. Her practice emphasizes adoption, family law, guardianship, guardian ad litem work, estate planning and probate matters. This year, Karen is thrilled to co-Chair the King County Collaborative Law Family Law Group (FLPG). Karen's previous work experience includes project manager and corporate trainer for various high-tech companies. International highlights include interning for EDS in London, teaching English as a Second Language in Japan, and volunteering in Holt's orphanages in South Korea. She is an active volunteer for the King County Bar Association Greenwood Family Law Clinic, the Kinship Cares Solutions Project (nonparental custody), restoring social security benefits for persons with AIDS, the Dispute Resolution Center of King County (mediator in the practicum) and Small Claims Court mediator
Motter Snell is a mediator, trainer, and labor relations specialist. Her interest in alternative dispute resolution started in 1990 as a volunteer conciliator and then staff mediator at the Dispute Resolution Center of King County. She is trainer, coach and mediator for the King County District Court, the Office of Superintendent of Public School, the InterLocal Conflict Resolution Group, Snohomish Dispute Resolution Center, and the Dispute Resolution Center of King County. She is partner of Counterpoint Associates, a family mediation training company in Seattle. She is a trainer and coach for the Law School at the University of Washington mediation trainings. Motter mediates family issues for the West Hawaii Mediation Center. She is a labor relations specialist with over twelve years of experience negotiating collective bargaining agreements and mediating labor and management disputes. Motter lives and works in Seattle, Washington and Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
Shelley White has worked in the mental health field for over twenty years. She has been an outpatient therapist and school counselor. For the past seven years she has been an instructor for Western Washington University's Human Services department where she has taught Conflict Resolution, Mental Health, Community Collaboration, and Child Development. She also teaches at Highline Community College, Human Services department. Shelley has been a certified mediator since 2001. She has used her mediation skills extensively in her work as a school counselor, as well as volunteering for the Dispute Resolution Centers of Kitsap County and of King County. She conducts violence prevention workshops, and is an instructor for Snohomish County's mandatory parenting classes.