TAPM Speaker Series Presents –
Conflict Coaching Tools for Mediators
Speaker: Jen Comiskey
Mediators often meet parties who aren’t quite ready for the table. They may be stuck in their own story, unsure what they want, or too reactive to negotiate productively. This workshop introduces practical tools from conflict coaching that mediators can use one-on-one during intake, pre-mediation conversations, and caucus work.
Drawing on the CMC Conflict Coaching Model, a three-stage framework of Perspective, Analysis, and Action, participants will learn how to help a party step back from a conflict, examine the assumptions driving it, and recalibrate their narratives, goals, and behavior based on new information. We will also explore how to help parties prepare for difficult conversations and break out of established conflict patterns. Participants will leave with concrete questions and techniques they can use right away, so the parties they work with arrive at mediation more prepared, more reflective, and better able to engage.
Speaker Bio: Jen Comiskey
Jen Comiskey is the Executive Director of Community Mediation Center (CMC) in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she has worked for more than 20 years. Before becoming Executive Director in 2024, she served for nearly two decades as CMC’s Program Director and Training Director, leading the Juvenile Court family mediation program and building CMC into a recognized statewide training resource. A Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 31 Listed Family Mediator, facilitator and conflict coach, Jen trained in Conflict Management Coaching with CINERGY and developed the CMC Conflict Coaching Model, which CMC uses in its coaching and co-parenting work. She designs and leads Rule 31 civil and family mediation trainings and workshops for community, professional and academic audiences across Tennessee, with particular expertise in domestic violence screening, trauma-informed practice and restorative processes.
Jen serves on the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Association of Professional Mediators and holds a leadership role in the Tennessee CMC Network. The Tennessee Supreme Court Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission has recognized her as a Mediator for Justice for 2024 and 2025 and honored her with a 2021 Distinguished Service Award. Jen holds a JD from the University of Tennessee College of Law and a BA in Politics from Hendrix College.