This week I attended the New Jersey Council of Collaborative Practice Groups annual dinner meeting with 84 of my NJ collaborative colleagues from all three disciplines. Our speaker was Ross M. Evans, Esquire, immediate past President of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals, known as the IACP. I took away three points that can be helpful to us all.
First, Ross emphasized the importance of all members of our collaborative movement being fully and continually trained so as to maximize our effectiveness and skills.
Second, it is the responsibility of practice groups to do excellent and frequent presentations to the public to increase peoples’ awareness of the existence of collaborative practice. Not just that, but also the effectiveness of the practice. Ross recommended reaching out to clergy in your city as well as local charities and community groups.
Let’s all revamp our former litigator stage voices and presence to bring our message to these groups and illuminate them about the many benefits of our practices.
Third, being in a room with dozens of like-minded collaborative professionals feels like coming home. None of that warrior testosterone that used to gall me at regular bar dinners was in the air. Sorry if that offends any of you still working on your paradigm shift, but hey, keep up the good work!
