Welcome to Advantages Mediation and Psychological Safety Training
Mediation, ADR, Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Workplace Restoration
Pick a service or a course & get started...
Mediation
Service
When you need assistance from a neutral, third party to dissolve the conflict between team members, my trauma informed approach to conflict resolution:
- Gets parties quickly to the place where they are dealing, directly, with what's at the root of their conflict;
- Prevents the parties from exploiting power tactics to get their way;
- Reduces any risks of future conflict.
Conflict Resolution & Conflict Prevention
Service
Conflict coaching is available for individuals, pairs and groups. Since 2010 Philip Be'er has been studying every aspect of interpersonal conflict and his unique approach to resolving and preventing conflicts delivers exceptional results.
SAFE 2B Psychological Safety Through Attunement Training Program
Training
SAFE 2B is a four month program empowering participants to identify and eliminate psychologically harmful behaviours, patterns and attitudes in their workplace using the attunement tools we've developed.
- Enrolled employees receive weekly microlessons via an app on their phone, or at their workstation.
- SAFE 2B provides training on topics relevant to DEI, mental health, EQ, psychological safety, elimination of micro-aggressions, bullying-prevention, and conflict resolution.
- Envision a culture where resources that have, traditionally, been allocated to disciplining employees and conducting investigations, can be put to better use.
* Check out https://advantagesofmediation.ca/courses/ for additional courses.
Consulting, Speaking and Personalized Coaching
Service
In 2015 Philip Be'er published 'Learning to Love', his first book about the way that humans interact, the role that conflict plays, attunement, and how to eliminate conflict.
The book was followed by a series of simple, yet sophisticated graphic tools for deeply understanding interpersonal dynamics in a person's workplace, their communities and their home.
Using this remarkable suite of tools, he's succeeded in working with clients to find solutions to their biggest challenges.
When you, your organization, or your family are confronted with a substantial challenge remember to reach out to us.
Philip occasionally delivers talks and presentations on the all topics appearing on this site and is always looking for opportunities to share his wisdom in breakout sessions and elsewhere.
Additional Training
Training
SAFE 2B is a four-month training that is available in:
- A format that is intended for those businesses and organizations interested in a comprehensive psychological safety training program
- Online, group training format where participants go through the app based program, together, in an online group facilitated by one of our trainers. This format allows individuals and small groups to benefit from the full SAFE 2B curriculum. Let us now if you would like to participate in the training and we will contact you when a session is being scheduled. If you have 6 or more co-workers, friends or family members who would like to participate in this program, we're often able to set up a dedicated, sixteen week series tailored to the needs of your group.
Workplace Restoration
Service
When you're organization needs to rebuild trust and repair relationships following an investigation for harassment, violence or any other harmful behaviour, elements from our SAFE 2B curriculum can be deployed almost immediately.
We've developed a trauma-informed approach that provides parties with a sense of control and personal agency, making it easier for them to attune and to get their "head back in the game".
For details: link
When’s the opportune moment to bring in a mediator?
In a diverse office, subtle cultural misunderstandings had begun to accumulate.
- Ahmed, a respected team member, often felt sidelined in discussions, and some of his comments were misinterpreted through the lens of colleagues’ assumptions rather than his intent.
- Jokes that seemed harmless to some felt exclusionary to others, and over time, Ahmed started withdrawing from informal interactions and speaking up less in meetings.
- A mediator was asked to help address the growing tension.
- After confidential conversations with Ahmed and several colleagues, it became clear that people were rarely acting out of malice, but many lacked awareness of how their words and behaviors landed across cultural lines.
- The mediator organized a series of cultural awareness sessions and small-group dialogues where people could share their backgrounds, communication styles, and experiences at work.
- They also worked with leadership to establish clearer norms around respectful behavior and inclusive decision-making.
- As the team practiced these new habits, Ahmed reported feeling more heard and included, and the workplace gradually shifted toward a culture that genuinely valued its diversity.
Viola and a fellow senior leader in a growing tech company found themselves pulling in opposite directions.
- Each had a different vision for the company’s next phase of growth, and their debates in leadership meetings often spilled over into tense hallway conversations.
- Their teams picked up on the tension, informally aligning with one leader or the other and receiving conflicting priorities and messages.
- A mediator stepped in to help the two leaders unpack their assumptions and articulate what they each wanted for the company.
- Rather than debating proposals in front of their teams, they met in a series of structured conversations where they explored shared goals, clarified decision-making authority, and agreed on how they would present unified messages to staff.
- As they began to coordinate more effectively, the leadership team stopped operating in silos.
- Communication to employees became more consistent, and the organization saw a lift in morale, with staff reporting less confusion and a stronger sense of direction.
Sandra, a project manager, and her software development team were experiencing a severe communication breakdown.
- Instructions arrived late or in vague emails, priorities shifted without explanation, and key updates were often shared with only part of the team.
- As a result, deadlines slipped, people duplicated work, and frustration mounted on all sides.
- A mediator was invited to observe team meetings, review recent communication threads, and speak individually with Sandra and several team members.
- Through these conversations, it became clear that expectations were not being stated explicitly and that there was no agreed process for sharing updates.
- With the mediator’s guidance, the team set up clearer communication channels, including a simple protocol for assigning tasks, regular check-ins with defined agendas, and a shared project dashboard.
- Over time, misunderstandings decreased, deadlines became more predictable, and the team began to feel more aligned and confident in their work together.
Hassan, a marketing manager, was well-liked but chronically overextended.
He tended to keep key tasks for himself, assigning others piecemeal work without considering each person’s strengths or existing workload.- Some team members felt overloaded, while others felt underutilized and disconnected from important projects.
- Burnout and resentment were quietly building.
- A mediator met with Hassan and his team to understand how work was being allocated and how people felt about their responsibilities.
- Through a combination of one-on-one conversations and a group workshop, they mapped out the team’s core projects, identified each person’s skills, and surfaced where tasks were falling through the cracks.
- Together, and with the mediator’s support, they redesigned how work would be delegated, creating clearer ownership for campaigns, setting realistic timelines, and encouraging James to step back from certain details.
- This more intentional distribution of tasks helped reduce stress, allowed team members to play to their strengths, and ultimately improved the quality and consistency of their output.
- Maria led an R&D team that was expected to deliver ambitious innovations on a shoestring budget.
- Essential tools went unpurchased, timelines were compressed, and talented researchers were leaving for better-resourced organizations.
- Morale dipped as projects stalled and the team’s reputation began to suffer internally.
- A mediator was brought in to get a fuller picture of the constraints and to open a constructive dialogue between the R&D group and senior stakeholders.
- After gathering input from Maria’s team and reviewing current projects, the mediator facilitated a session where leaders could see the concrete impact of underfunding—missed opportunities, delayed launches, and increased turnover risk.
- Through this process, the organization agreed on a more realistic set of priorities, reallocated some budget, and adjusted expectations.
- With clearer commitments and better-aligned resources, Maria’s team regained focus, moved key initiatives forward, and started to rebuild its standing as a driver of innovation within the company.
- Lily, a creative director, worked in a company that claimed to value bold ideas but, in practice, treated every new proposal as a potential liability.
- Teams learned to play it safe, relying on familiar concepts rather than risking criticism or failure.
- Lily noticed that brainstorming sessions were quiet and repetitive, and promising ideas were often shelved before they could be tested.
- A mediator helped Lily and her colleagues talk openly about their fears around failure and how past negative experiences had shaped the culture.
- Together, they designed low-risk ways to experiment, including small pilot projects, time-limited trials, and clear criteria for evaluating new concepts.
- By creating structured “safe zones” for experimentation and explicitly recognizing efforts to innovate—even when results were mixed—the organization gradually became more open to fresh thinking.
- Lily’s team began to propose bolder campaigns, and a handful of these early pilots led to notable product and brand successes, injecting new energy into the workplace.
Hana found herself in a workplace where gossip traveled faster than official announcements, favoritism seemed to guide promotions, and people hesitated to speak candidly for fear of backlash.
- Over time, good employees quietly left, while those who remained grew disengaged and cynical.
- A mediator was brought in to get an honest picture of what was happening beneath the surface.
- Through anonymous surveys, confidential interviews, and a review of existing policies, the mediator identified patterns: lack of transparency in decision-making, inconsistent enforcement of rules, and no safe channels for raising concerns.
- Working with leadership, the mediator helped design and implement a plan that included clearer communication about decisions, fairer processes for performance reviews and promotions, and a mechanism for reporting issues without retaliation.
- As these changes took root, trust slowly began to rebuild.
- Employees reported feeling more respected and informed, and the organization started to shift from a defensive, rumor-driven culture to one where people felt they could focus on doing their best work.
When the company announced a new software system, employees reacted with anxiety and skepticism.
- Past technology rollouts had been rocky, and many people worried about losing efficiency, making mistakes, or appearing incompetent during the transition.
- Rumors circulated, and some staff openly questioned whether the change was necessary at all.
- A mediator stepped in to help surface concerns that weren’t being voiced directly to management.
- Through listening sessions and anonymous feedback, the mediator gathered specific worries—about training, data migration, and workload during the switch—and brought them back to leadership in a structured way.
- Working together, they developed a clearer rollout plan, including hands-on training, designated “super users” to support colleagues, and realistic timelines.
- As employees saw their input reflected in the plan and had space to ask questions, resistance softened.
- Over time, the new system became part of daily work, and many staff members acknowledged that, once they adjusted, it actually made their jobs easier.
John, a skilled graphic designer, found his enthusiasm fading under the weight of constant oversight.
- His supervisor frequently rewrote emails on his behalf, insisted on reviewing every draft, and checked in so often that John stopped taking initiative.
- The rest of the team noticed the tension and began to second-guess their own decisions as well.
- A mediator met separately with John and his supervisor to understand their perspectives.
- The supervisor admitted feeling responsible for every detail of client work, while John described how the lack of trust undercut his creativity and slowed projects down.
- In a joint session, the mediator helped them agree on clearer boundaries: which decisions John could make independently, when feedback would be given, and how to handle mistakes as learning opportunities rather than crises.
- As these new norms took hold, John gained more autonomy, produced stronger work, and the supervisor was able to step back from day-to-day control and focus more on strategy.
Aisha led a team where everyone was busy, but no one was quite sure who owned what.
- Different people responded to the same requests, some tasks were handled twice, and others were forgotten altogether.
- When problems arose, finger-pointing replaced problem-solving, and team meetings became increasingly tense.
- A mediator was asked to help sort out the confusion.
- Through interviews and a review of ongoing projects, they mapped the current responsibilities and highlighted where overlaps and gaps existed.
- In a facilitated workshop, Aisha and her team worked through each major function, clarifying who was accountable, who needed to be consulted, and how handoffs would work.
- The process didn’t just produce a new roles chart; it also gave people a chance to voice frustrations and reset expectations.
- With a shared understanding of responsibilities, the team reduced duplication, caught issues earlier, and had an easier time recognizing individual contributions to collective success.
SAFE 2B Psychological Safety Training
Our goal is to support you in the cultivation of a highly productive environment, where the need to blame, judge, criticize, interrupt, humiliate, deceive or dissociate rarely arises.
60 per cent of workers say they are suffering from workplace-related stress
Effective psychological safety programs like SAFE 2B deliver immediate reductions in workplace stress, while eliminating all (or nearly all) interpersonal conflicts.
About 500,000 Canadians are unable to work due to poor
mental health every week.
Noticeable improvements in mental health correspond to the length of time that an employee has been working in your emotionally-safe environment, rather than the reverse.
7 in 10 workers have experienced a form of harassment and violence at work. 1 in 4 who reported said that reporting made the situation worse.
Envision a culture where resources that have, traditionally, been allocated to disciplining employees and conducting investigations, can be put to better use.
Unmatched Value
Disrespect
Being treated in a dismissive or contemptuous manner sends the message that a person is unworthy of respect ,and can reinforce the belief that no one is taking them, their actions, or their words seriously.
If they feel powerless, there could be situations where accidents occur because they feel safer remaining silent rather than alerting others to potential hazards.
The resulting anxiety and low self-esteem can manifest as vacillation, delay, hesitation, indecisiveness, and lack of assertiveness.
When psychological safety is lacking, especially in environments where people are attacked or ridiculed for who they are or what they represent (for example, when a person is being bullied), this can impact the person’s confidence and self-image.
The resulting anxiety and low self-esteem can manifest as vacillation, delay, hesitation, indecisiveness, and lack of assertiveness.
These factors can compromise both their safety and the safety of others.
Fight, Flight or Freeze
The human nervous system defends itself from psychological danger in the same way it defends against physical danger — by initiating a fight, flight, or freeze response.
A person’s full attention becomes focused on the perceived threat, which can lead to serious accidents.
A Ripple Effect
When a person responds to a perceived threat, the INTENSITY of their response can trigger others.
Fight and Flight responses often escalate the level of conflict.
Why people love our courses
Philip took me through parts of his B-Loops using negative belief systems that I hold about myself and others. It was like seeing myself as the other person ... as I unpacked how what I judge in others, sits inside of me too. Then further looking at the positive aspects of a particular "negative" trait and seeing how it has served me freed me to be more compassionate and accepting of myself, in fact it helped me shift a major piece around shame that I have been carrying for years now. It seems like such a simple process, but the impact is immense, I am so grateful that I got to experience the process in such a profound way.
H. Cape Town
Looking at my darkness/shadow side and transforming how I view my "perceived" flaws was amazing. Taking a look ... at my insecurities as a parent and human in interpersonal relationships was transformed from guilt and isolation to strength and validation and........ Community...... I no longer question if I'm good enough. I know I am. I have truly released myself from the "behavioural loops" that held me back from moving forward and claiming the life I want.
M. Parksville
Thank you so much Philip! It looks like you have wrought a miracle. Kudos to the two of them as well. I know they did some important work.
P. Victoria, B.C.
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