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 intervention 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?

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

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.
• Demonstrate skills to effectively plan and facilitate constructive dialogue for students across a range of contexts.
• Gain the confidence and readiness to address and manage tense or controversial situations constructively.

Format & Time Commitment

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
• 1 hour total of homework including watching a video and writing a personal reflection
• 3 hours of independent small group work
• 1 final 5-hour practicum day

Course Curriculum & Schedule

Session 1: Becoming a Facilitator (April 1, 2025)

• Introduction to CDI and constructive dialogue
• The role of a facilitator - competencies and skills
• Facilitator identity
• Facilitator conflict styles

Session 2: The Dialogue Approach (April 8, 2025)

• Dialogue demonstration
• The contexts for dialogue
• How to build trust within a group
• How to set expectations and boundaries for the dialogue
• How to invite dialogue through topic, question, and structure
• How to model mindsets that support constructive dialogue
• How to close out a dialogue

Session 3: Navigating Conflict (April 15, 2025)

• Deciding when/whether to jump in
• Consider the context
• The 4 conflict navigation strategies
• Scenario-based practice opportunities and roleplays
• Personal case analyses
• Where to draw the line

Session 4: Facilitation Practicum (April 22, 2025)

Cost

The cost of this certification program is $2,500 per participant.

Please complete the registration form at the link below and proceed to the payment page. Your registration is not confirmed until you pay at checkout or by invoice.

For general questions please email trainings@constructivedialogue.org.

Register & Pay

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.

Jake Fay, Ed.D., CDI Director of Education
Jake is an educator at heart with years of experience teaching and thinking about civic discourse. He holds an Ed.D and Ed.M from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, an MA in American History from Brandeis University, and is a proud graduate of the Shady Hill Teacher Training Course. Read full bio.

Eliza O'Neil, Ed.M., CDI Senior Curriculum Developer
Eliza is an educator, dialogue facilitator, and curriculum writer. Inherently, her work has centered around bringing communities who might never meet together to forge connections and learn from differences. Before joining CDI, Eliza was a program director for Seeds of Peace, where she ran dialogue and facilitation programs for young adults and educators across the US. Read full bio.