Certified Dialogue Facilitator: Facilitate with Confidence

Overview

This practice-oriented certification program equips participants with the skills to confidently plan and facilitate difficult conversations among students. Participants will gain a deep understanding of the role of a facilitator, learn facilitation techniques and conflict navigation strategies, and practice their emergent skills in a community of fellow aspiring dialogue practitioners.

Skills developed from the program can be applied across a range of settings, including planned residential life programming, responding to unexpected campus crises, and mediating interpersonal student conflicts. After successfully completing the program and demonstrating competency, participants will receive a certification in dialogue facilitation from CDI.

Who Should Register?

Faculty and Staff: This certification program is geared toward faculty and student-facing staff (e.g., residential life teams, student advisors, DEI teams, student life staff).

Student Leader: This certification program is geared toward students who hold some form of leadership role on campus, whether residential life, student clubs, student government, or athletics.

Course Objectives

By the end of the certification, participants will:

• Understand the purpose and role of a facilitator, as well as the basic skills a facilitator uses to guide a dialogue. 

• Learn the essential components of planning and facilitating a constructive dialogue for students across a range of contexts. 

• Gain the confidence and readiness to address and manage tense or controversial situations constructively. 

• Complete a dialogue practicum to demonstrate facilitation skills competency. 

Delivery Format

The Faculty and Staff version is available as a public session or a private cohort. The Student Leader version is available only as a private cohort.

Public Session:

This is a 20-hour workshop. All sessions will run from 11 AM - 4 PM Eastern for 4 sessions in total, and include built-in breaks throughout each session.

• 15 hours of live, virtual learning

• 4 hours total of independent writing between sessions

• 1 final 5-hour practicum day (Staff and Faculty version only)

• On Day 1, students will meet for 6 hours and explore the role of the facilitator. 
• On Day 2, students will spend 8 hours learning the building blocks of leading a dialogue in any context and practice filling that role amongst supportive peers.

Course Curriculum

Per our Training and Workshop Cancellation and No-Show Policy, if you are unable to attend a training or workshop, you must cancel your registration at least 1 week prior to the scheduled date of the training or workshop. Any seats reserved and not utilized or canceled with sufficient notice will be forfeited and will be ineligible for a refund or transfer.

Upcoming Public Cohorts

Register for July 2025       Register for September 2025       Register for October 2025   

If the above dates don't work for your schedule, please join the waitlist and we'll notify you as soon as more cohorts become available.

Join the waitlist

Hero image photo credit: David Degner.