JENNIFER SUZOR - Lead Trainer
Jennifer Suzor has over three decades of experience as a family lawyer, Accredited Family, Child Protection and Intergenerational Mediator, and Mediation Trainer based in Windsor, Ontario. Having practiced family law at all levels of the Court from 1988 to 2021, she experienced first hand how difficult that system can be for families. She has focused on family mediation for the past twenty (20) years and has trained family mediators for over ten (10) years. She is committed to excellence in her own mediation practice and in training family mediators to that same level. Jennifer is a frequent speaker at mediation conferences. She has personally trained new mediators throughout Canada and since the covid 19 pandemic continues to do so in her online courses. Previously, Jennifer also helped to develop the Advanced Mediation Course at York University.
People who have taken her training consistently rate Jennifer’s training ability at 100% effective in what she does. Many have commented that the experience of training was “life changing” due to the passion she has for mediation and her very effective and personable teaching style.
Her training approach starts with a fundamental truth: to truly understand others, we must first understand ourselves—our natural and inherent skills and also those areas where we need growth. She encourages and helps trainees to recognize how their perspectives, assumptions, and unconscious biases have shaped the way they see conflict and communication. By building this self-awareness, participants learn how this same process affects and is part of the conflicts they will mediate. The training is thorough as it is grounded in the insight approach and conflict theory, effective communication strategies, and the very practical and key mediation skills that allow these future mediators to navigate complex disputes with clarity and confidence.
Jennifer served as the President of the Ontario Association for Family Mediation (OAFM) from 2013 to 2018 and continued to contribute to the important work of that organization through to 2021 by assisting with the development of policies. She is the co-founder of the Family Peacemakers conference found at the www.familypeacemakers.ca and remains an active member of that committe. Jennifer is also on the Board of Directors for Windsor Life Centre, a Woman’s Addiction Treatment Centre and the Past-President of the Autism Society of Ontario (Windsor) and the Summit Centre for Preschoolers with Autism.
in 2016, Jennifer received the President’s Award from the Association for Family and Conciliation Courts, Ontario Chapter, in recognition of her volunteer work as a founding creator and Co-Chair of the Walsh Family Negotiation Competition and her vision of creating a series of events in Windsor called “Changing the Culture of Conflict Resolution in Family Breakdown Roundtable Dinner Series” for the Judiciary, Counsel, Psychologists, Social Workers and others who work with family breakdown in Windsor. She is the President of Bridging Family Conflict and also mediates at her private practice at www.suzormediation.com.
Jennifer can be reached at jennifer@suzormediation.com or at 519-252-2772.
