See our team of skilled mediation coaches.
Family Mediation, Arbitration & Parenting Coordination
We have helped hundreds of professionals become great family mediators, parenting coordinators and arbitrators.
Our programs offer engaging and current curriculum and relevant tutorials led by experienced industry leaders.
All training includes on-demand lectures from experts in the field. Courses with live tutorials provide excellent coaching with a low student:coach ratio.
Testimonials from our graduates stand out; read some of them here.
All courses are designed to meet the requirements of the Ontario Association of Family Mediation, the ADR Institute of Ontario or the Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario as applicable.
Custom Mediation Training
We have designed custom Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), negotiation and civil mediation courses, as well as family mediation training courses for organizations around the world.
We know how to delve deeply to understand the issues that matter in conflict, not just negotiating positions.
Our experienced mediation trainers can create a specific version of any of our standard courses or can design a tailored course just for your company, organization, or government.
Special Workshops in Screening for Power Imbalances and IPV
We specialize in designing and delivering workshops for individuals, organizations and agencies that aim to create models for identifying, assessing and managing power imbalances, including those resulting from IPV, in their processes and programs. Some projects include:
- Screening for Family Violence, Abuse and Power Imbalances for the Ismaili Conciliation and Arbitration Board (CAB)
- Screening for Family Violence, Abuse and Power Imbalances: A Workshop for Parenting Coordinators and Other Dispute Resolution Professionals for The Prince Edward Island Parenting Coordination Society
- Screening for Power Imbalances Including Intimate Partner Violence (12 Hours) –
Identifying, Assessing and Managing Risk in Your Practice for Martha McCarthy & Company LLP
Contact us if you would like customized IPV training for your organization!
Upcoming Mediation Courses
EARLY BIRD PRICING AVAILABLE
Advanced Family Mediation
Spring 2026
Course opens:
March 26, 2026
Mandatory Tutorials:
April 7, 14 & 21, 2026
Online (Synchronous & Asynchronous content)
Course DetailsFamily Arbitration: Theory, Law and Practice
Spring/Summer 2026
Course opens:
June 4, 2026
Mandatory Tutorials:
June 15, 18, 22, 25 & 29, 2026
Online (Self-directed learning and live, interactive sessions)
Course DetailsFamily Law (30 Hours)
100% asynchronous for self-directed learning (with admin and course leader support).
Online (Self-directed learning and live, interactive sessions)
Course DetailsTestimonials
Your work offers us the ability to make our mediation and collaborative process safe. It offered me a whole new way of working, of being able to reach far further along the continuum of challenging couples and of doing this work with far more satisfaction.
IMPACT Justice is a Canadian-funded project being implemented from within the Caribbean Law Institute of the Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus. We have used Riverdale Mediation to train mediators including police officers, social workers, probation officers and persons from many other disciplines in Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Lucia during 2016/17.
The Riverdale Mediation trainers are extremely professional in their approach, are knowledgeable, adaptable and know how to make trainees feel comfortable. We have had nothing but glowing comments from the many persons they have trained under the IMPACT Justice Programme.
Riverdale Mediation was highly recommended to us from our ADR colleagues from across the country. They delivered a high-quality, practical, and interesting 2-day family law arbitration training to over 20 dispute resolution professionals in PEI in March 2017. The feedback we received from participants in their post-training evaluations was glowing. They brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to the training and were effective communicators and teachers.
Hilary’s approach to presentation is affable, easily digestible and highly informative. Hilary was willing to share all her knowledge in an open and constructive manner, dealt with difficult questions and imparted her knowledge with abandon. All our delegates were highly impressed with the professional and capable manner in which her presentation was delivered and the knowledge imparted.
Hilary’s passion for the field is infectious and so evident in how she presents her material and in the fantastic guest speakers who we had the pleasure of hearing. It is understandable why Riverdale has a great reputation as the foremost in Mediation education.
Mediator-In-Training (MIT) Program
Each year, we provide supervised hands-on mediation experience for between 10 to 15 mediation and parenting coordination students.