About Gordon White
My path to becoming a mediator was anything but straight. I’ve always loved the natural world and as a teenager decided to take a Zoology degree. In a round-about way I followed this with an MBA. A person I crossed paths with predicted that I would work with something that was all around me. The idea stayed with me, but the meaning of “all around me” didn’t become apparent until eight years later.
I had become very interested in consciousness and self-development and was working with people in a variety of contexts. I heard about mediation and looked into it thinking mediation might be a quick way to pull together everything I’d learned into a career. Training was offered at the Justice Institute in British Columbia so I enrolled. About this time I realized that it was conflict that was all around me. I also learned that developing a mediation practice was not going to be quick. But, by then I was more than interested, I was committed.
As well as developing a practice, I subsequently went on to become a faculty member at the Justice Institute in 1996 and additionally for the past 12 years I’ve been teaching a graduate course in conflict management at Royal Roads University.
In a team or organizational setting conflict and group functioning are often linked. And since conflict may be symptomatic of underlying dynamics, I also offer leadership coaching, team development, and group facilitation in addition to mediation.
On an individual level, there is growth potential in the conflict experience. It often challenges who we are and invites us into new more complex ways of understanding ourselves or the world around us. Conflict presents itself in a variety of forms. I like to create processes that are tailored to address the particular conflicts that people find themselves in.
My life partner is artist Gail Sibley. We live in a century old character home in the Fernwood urban village of Victoria, British Columbia. We love to travel and care deeply about the natural world.
This is good…!!!
Hi John,
Thank you for your appreciation. Which one do you like best?