MACM

Wanda Joseph has been a trainer of conflict resolution and communication skills since 1989. She has a special interest in the healing aspect of laughter and its role in restoring relationships and promoting creative problem solving. A mediator since 1994 with the mediation centers in Traverse City and Muskegon, Michigan and inprivate practice (Creative Conflict Resolution) since 2003, she provides family and workplace mediations. She regularly brings lightheartedness to her practice and eases the tension in the room with respectful humor.

Bill Waters is a retired Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, Northern Michigan University with 26 years of teaching experience. A domestic and civil mediator and trainerwith the Marquette Alger Resolution Service (Michigan) since 1991, he is a consultant to government and non-profit agencies on the role and use of humor in the workplace and conflict resolution and mediation skills. He has significant public speaking experience with local, national and international audiences on the role of humor in criminal justice practice. Bill Waters has traveled internationally with the real Patch Adams, bringing laughter to orphanages, hospitals, and prisons. Bill's most recent clown trip was to Romania, bringing ‘humanitarian clowning’ to hospitals, orphanages, and nursing homes, to children with HIV, to children and adults who live on the street.  In their trainings, Waters and Joseph challenge each other and participants to act responsibly but not necessarily ‘seriously’. Laughter is a frequent dynamic in their trainings.