Dialogue Road Map Training
The Dialogue Road Map (DRM), is based on a set of core principles which inform our attitude to life and how we navigate our relationships. The Dialogue Road Map produces a mindful approach to self talk, interpersonal communication and conflict resolution and uses precision in language to get clarity on how others receive us.
The Dialogue Road Map Facilitator Course:
Applications are now open for our 2026 training Dialogue Road Map Practitioner Course.
This is a very rare opportunity to invest in your personal growth and professional development leading to a healthier and more balanced life and the possibility to take this training into your workplace or community offering a much needed service to our society.
Please read on and get in touch if you want to be kept informed. We’re looking for people who want to work transformatively, holding the space whilst maintaining boundaries, giving great client service and being sustainable. You will become part of a small, trusted group and so not everyone who applies will be accepted.
Dates will be agreed when we find our group and we aim to begin before the end of the year.
At the end of this training you will be ready to offer your services to your clients in the following applications:
- Communication between parents and children for example helping parents set and maintain healthy boundaries without force or coercion.
- Intimate partner relationships for example assisting a couple to make better quality agreements
- Family dialogue for example helping a family have a conversation during or after a critical or difficult time
- Friendship and Partnership disagreements for example working out how to resolve a trust issue
- Workplace communication for example working with colleagues who need to work together but have fallen out
- Neighbour disputes for example dealing with the problems of living in close proximity to neighbours with differing values
- Extended family interference for example managing communication with a dominant family member
- Individual transformative work for example helping an individual make changes or become unstuck from a current position.
This will be a one year training for a small, select group who wish to work self-employed in private practice or bring this work into their own lives and workplaces.
The course will comprise of:
- 20 days of online training over one year (Split into 1, 2 or 3 day modules)
- Dates will be set by the group as our first collaborative process.
- Monthly Zoom discussions
- Minimum of 2x group practice sessions per month
- One to one coaching sessions
- Opportunities to see the work in action
- Opportunities to learn about our work with prisons and ex-offenders
- Supervision for your work
Post training:
- Opportunity to join the DRM Deepening Group
- Ongoing supervision, training and practice
- Working under the DRM and Peaceful Solutions brand as part of our network with use of the logo
- Being named as a DRM approved facilitator
- Being recommended and endorsed by Maria Arpa MBE and Peaceful Solutions
- Support with marketing and guidance on running your practice
- Inclusion in our policies and procedures
- Support with obtaining a DBS check
- Opportunities to be part of the charitable work
- Opportunity to work towards becoming a trainer and one of our DRM Practitioners across all fields
Do contact us if you have any questions about what is involved, or if you would be interested in being considered for this unique programme in the future.
Just take a look at some of the feedback:
Meet our current DRM Practitioners
Maria Arpa
Maria is the mind, heart and soul behind the Dialogue Road Map has been described as one of the UK’s top mediators. She is also a sought after speaker & trainer.
Maria developed a communications tool called the Dialogue Road Map which has gained recognition amongst industry experts. She founded the Centre for Peaceful Solutions, a charity which offers conflict resolution, mediation, restorative justice and nonviolent communications training to people who struggle in society.
Maria has been mediating since 1999 and has mediated over 500 cases in all areas of practice. Her work has been acknowledged within the industry. She helps individuals and groups regain emotional intelligence and process the issues to resolution with the least amount of human suffering possible between the people involved.
Since then, the Dialogue Road Map has found its way into prisons, schools, communities and workplaces and its scope has expanded to embrace healing, trauma work, substance misuse, governance and systems in organisations.
Her book, The Heart of Mindful Relationships, was published in June 2012 and her second book Mindfulness at Work was released in March 2013.
David and Maria are work partners and a married couple and they have co-mediated over 200 cases. They are a powerful resource when situations are complex and highly charged. Maria and David live the principles of their work in their personal and professional relationship to ensure that they are congruent with the theory and practice they promote.
David Ellis
In 2007 David made a radical life change from Managing Director of a three-generation family publishing business to becoming a mediator. David is a Director to Peaceful Solutions and lead supervisor. David is astute in business and commercial matters and rapidly gains the confidence of the parties and their advisors and helps them to process the issues so they can formulate sustainable settlement agreements. David is adept at resolving stuck or entrenched positions and has conducted over 300 cases in the last seven years. David is an experienced accredited Family Mediator and Family Professional Practice Consultant (PPC) and has developed a proven track record of creating the conditions where mediated outcomes can be negotiated in the most hostile of situations and where there is a lot at stake. He is particularly adept at modelling compassion and empathy when situations are emotionally charged. David and Maria are work partners and a married couple and they have co-mediated over 200 cases. They are a powerful resource when situations are complex and highly charged. Maria and David live the principles of their work in their personal and professional relationship to ensure that they are congruent with the theory and practice they promote.
Louisa Burnand
Louisa met the Centre for Peaceful Solutions when she came to us with her then husband when she was going through a divorce of her own. Louisa is an experienced practitioner and facilitator. She is the co-coordinator and primary trainer for our work in schools, and is a key member of our prison project. She is also part of our training team, supporting our current trainees with their accreditation and practice. `` Since completing my training in 2013, I have now worked on many cases and projects with CPS and continued to get more learning from the Dialogue Road Map and I am now part of the DRM Deepening group in 2021. I manage a wide range of individual and group casework. `` I am pleased to acknowledge that this experience inspired me to train with CPS and join our team!``
Tom Ford
Tom’s background was in Sales and Sport sectors before he met Maria and CPS after going through a traumatic experience in his life some time ago. Since then Tom has been through Dialogue Road Map training and had over 300 hours worth of live case work. Tom now is Deputy Director of the Charity. “ The Dialogue Road Map personally has completely changed my life. DRM has helped improve all my relationships with family, it has helped me connect with people on a deeper level. It has also has really taught me a way to focus on the reality and living in the present” “ Professionally DRM has given me a new career, new lease of life and gives me the opportunity to help people. I communicate with different kinds of people from all walks of life better as a result.”
Ruth Allington
Ruth is an engineering geologist with expertise in the design of quarries that achieve an equitable balance between viability, safety and efficiency, and environmental. Minerals of all kinds are essential to sustain our modern way of living, “ My particular interest and passion is on working with mineral operators and their stakeholders (especially communities) to help them resolve disputes through mediation, and to facilitate creation of sustainable systems for co-existing based on consent, collaboration and trust. Now semi-retired after a 38 year career in full time technical consultancy, I am working freelance, applying my technical, facilitative and mediation skills to consultancy; training and mentoring. “ Training to be a Dialogue Road Map Facilitator in 2020 has transformed and deepened my mediation and facilitation skills and this, in turn, has enriched my personal life and all areas of my professional practice.”
Ian
Ian has been a teacher of Philosophy and Religion and Well-being in secondary schools since 2000. In 2006, he introduced the Well-being curriculum at Wellington College, an independent boarding school, and he has been running the curriculum ever since. The curriculum focuses on human flourishing and helps young people to reflect on and practice some of the habits of a life well lived. His approach is explained his book Learning to Ride Elephants (Bloomsbury Press, 2015). “ In 2017, I began my journey with the Dialogue Road Map and I have been working to establish a DRM practice at Wellington College since then ” “ I use the DRM with both pupils and colleagues and as the DRM becomes more and more well-known in our community, it is having a more and more positive impact on people. I have found learning the DRM to be life-changing and it has had a profound impact on the quality of my professional relationships ”
Hervé De Trogoff
Hervé is a founding partner of Accuracy UK and leads Accuracy’s Project Advisory and Dispute services globally. Hervé has multiple years of experience as a construction management professional further developing his career with contractors and consultants in a number of challenging international environments. He graduated as a civil engineer and later completed an MBA at the London Business School, where he specialised in project finance, corporate finance and project risk management. Hervé specialises in advisory and dispute resolution services to the construction and manufacturing industries. He provides mediation and expert advice to owners, developers, contractors and other project actors on projects and programmes, project valuation and time-risk management. Hervé speaks English, French and Spanish and has a basic understanding of the Finnish language.
Lorraine
Lorraine is a qualified lawyer who assists a small sub-contracting company with contractual, governance and dispute issues. “ My professional life has benefitted from DRM by showing me that heated discussions can be handled differently, the heat in the room can be taken out quickly, everyone can be heard, and healthier conversations can be had, leading to speedier resolutions “ “ My personal life has become calmer because of the Dialogue Road Map , I try to use it every-day in every situation, learning how to step back and not react so hastily is still work in progress, understanding that if you let your heart speak instead of your mind has been beneficial to my overall wellbeing
Gio
Gio is an Advisor and Entrepreneur, and is involved in Impact investing. Gio is committed to system change, investing to reduce inequalities and collaborating on many different projects supporting international partnership. “DRM has provided me with a tool for change personally for all of the people that I meet existing and new. I am able to use it within my personal aspects of life from day to day and that benefits me a huge amount“ “ Professionally DRM has opened new paths for positive impact and I can take that into my work and create a better future for my myself, my family and the people around me“
Cornelia
Cornelia grew up in the Swiss mountains and now works in leadership within the hospitality sector. She is a partner and business founder and has a real passion for business. “ The Dialogue Road Map has made me more confident and open minded personally and I have been able to create better connections with contacts and friends, it has given me new lease of life. I have taken on live cases and enjoyed helping others to be able to reflect “ “ Professionally, DRM has given me more ways of dealing with and leading people not only within the workspace but also outside of work and that is a way of helping others lead and communicate better in business
Katrina
Katrina worked in a UK university for six years, supporting international students with cultural adjustment, finances, immigration, childcare, mental health and personal issues. After moving to Switzerland, she switched career to work in mediation and negotiation support for peace processes. She researches, trains and provides process support in different conflict contexts. “DRM has supported me by inspiring a people-centred approach to my facilitation work and by equipping me with tools for self-reflection in my professional development. ” ” Personally DRM has given me communication skills that can be used in all situations to connect to people from all walks of life and to see the person behind the behaviour.”
Minna
Minna lives on a farm. Galloping across fields in rain or shine is her ‘Reset Button’. Minna also owns a mobile Milkshake company called MOOMIX which she takes to outdoor events. Her many volunteering positions include being a Soul Midwife working with people from the point of terminal diagnosis right up until the end of life; volunteering for a helpline to reassure and comfort the dying or those caring for the dying; volunteering as a Street Pastor; supporting people in her local community who have suffered trauma and are struggling with mental health issues. “ I attempt to use the DRM in all my conversations across the areas where I am relating to people, whether it’s in a formal listening role or in general conversation. “ “ The Dialogue Road Map has certainly given me much greater skills to connect with people and show empathy… and hopefully to help them in resolving their issues “ “ I believe that this in itself has enabled me to be of service to people in a variety of ways in many different situations and I will continue to help others with the resources I have “
Mariam
Mariam was first introduced to the Dialogue Road Map and Nonviolent Communication when she was 12 years old through her single mother who trained with the Centre for Peaceful Solutions whilst going through a tumultuous divorce. After years of working in a variety of industries from the Non profits to Tech Sales, Mariam, then realised that what I kept coming back to was a desire to share the tools she had learnt as a child.
This transformative tool raised my awareness of my feelings and needs in any given moment and gave me the practical steps to go out and get the resources I need as well as better express myself. I no longer avoid conflict in interpersonal relationships but am able to walk towards it “ “ Professionally I have always found that I excel professionally regardless of which industry I worked in and after a while I realised that my ‘edge’ came from the communication styles I had learned growing up and being able to manage relationships and the conflicts that naturally arise from working with others.”
Celia
Celia is a Transformation coach, speaker, artist, activist and above all Alchemist, graduate of Chelsea Art College and the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. After overcoming years of addiction, domestic abuse and the murder of her beautiful Mum in 2008, it has been a long journey of recovery and self-realisation. Celia also gives talks on behalf of the charities: Safe Lives and Amnesty International, working in conjunction with Centre for Peaceful Solutions, and various other organisations. “ DRM has opened my mind and heart to the power of listening, being curious and empathetic not just with others but with myself. I used to be more argumentative with myself, debating about what to do, now I dialogue and kindly negotiate with myself and subsequently I experience more harmony, humour and inner peace ” “ Professionally DRM has helped me connect with my clients at the deepest level, it creates such a safe space for them to explore what is current for them and allows them to feel seen, heard and understood and ultimately hear themselves “
Sally
Sally is a professionally qualified Learning and Organisation Development specialist, with an Msc in Organisational Behaviour and over 20 years’ experience of leading and managing organisational change projects across a range of organisations in different sectors. She is passionate about finding ways to build relationships across difference and divide and is an accredited facilitator with the Compassionate Listening Project; a volunteer guide with Dose of Nature and a Trustee of The Forgiveness Project. She loves to spend time in the natural world and knows from personal experience that this can help people to connect more effectively to themselves, each other and the wider world. ‘The Dialogue Roadmap has given me awareness and skills so I am able to build deeper connection with both myself and others. The DRM has opened my eyes and my heart to the power of being present, and the awareness that empathy is the magic key which can unlock any door. It has brought me greater ease, peace and self-acceptance; and my greatest joy is to help others to find these also.’
Rodrigo
Rodrigo has more than 30 years’ experience working with people as a mediator, coach, and body worker. After 15 years of studying and applying Nonviolent Communication (NVC) in his work and personal life, Rodrigo found a vital missing piece in Maria’s DRM that allows him to seamlessly integrate NVC with ease and flow into every aspect of his daily life. He looks forward to accompanying you in your journey
Huda
Huda came to CPS after observing the gradual effects of non-violent communication on her family over many years. She studied biology at university and worked in hospitality management before making a commitment to understanding her own behaviours and that of others. Huda took the Dialogue Road Map course in 2022 and became increasingly fascinated with tools of communication. She is now working towards her counselling qualification and her practice focuses primarily on presence, mindfulness and courageous enquiry. Her goal is to support others to identify, recognise and interrupt old patterns and learn how to replace them with intentional and conscious choices that serve them better.
Applications
The DRM is Universal wherever there are human relationships that need to continue.
These are some of the settings in which it is currently being applied:
- Couples, Families and Parenting
- Connecting with Children and Young People
- Divorce and Separation
- Gang Related Rivalries
- Neighbourhood Disputes
- Victim / Offender work
- Mediation and Dispute Resolution
- Mental health, Addictions and Substance misuse
- Prisons
- Schools
- Workplaces
- Mental Healthcare
- Ex-offender rehabilitation
- Suicide Prevention
DRM Core Training
- Improve the quality of the conversations you have
- Communicate so everyone trusts they have been heard and understood
- Get engagement even in the face of hostility, anger or resistance.
- Be in authentic dialogue not adversarial positions and notice the difference
- Develop your empathy and listening skills
- Build meaningful relationships
- Feel empowered to express yourself effectively
- Trust in self efficacy even when ambivalence is present.
- Create outcomes that everyone involved feels ownership of.
