Partners

Monica Hanaway

Monica Hanaway is an Accredited Mediator (SPC: January 2000), and an Accredited UKCP Psychotherapist (1994), supervisor, business coach, stress management consultant and management and leadership trainer.

She was Senior Lecturer on a Bar Council/Law Society accredited Mediation Course at the School of Psychotherapy and Counselling Psychology (SPCP), Regent’s University, London, which has trained and accredited many mediators through its courses in London. She has also taught Advanced Mediation in Singapore, Romania, Latvia, South Africa, Malta and the Channel Islands. This mediation training takes a philosophical and psychological approach to mediation and emphasizes the importance of values, beliefs and self-esteem in the creation and resolution of conflict.

She was a member of the faculty of Webster University where she delivered training in conflict resolution to Masters students intending to work in NGOs and Diplomatic services.

She is affiliated with Desmond Tutu Foundation UK and is a member of a team which provides mediation training for the staff of TFUK and worked with Archbishop Tutu to explore ways of addressing continued conflict in the Cape townships and in Northern Ireland. She was invited to make a presentation at the International Association for Conflict Management Annual IACM Conference in Stellenbosch in July 2012, and in 2013 and 2014 was invited to contribute to the 3rd and 4th International Peace Conferences in Cape Town. She has run workshops in The Cape Townships on conflict resolution amongst young people and has worked to address gender-based violence and conflict in the area.

In 2024 she was the keynote speaker at Mediation Conference in Belfast and will be speaking at the 2025 conference whose venue is tbc. In May 2025 she has been invited to speak at a conference in Rome on Existential Leadership Coaching .

She has mediated in a wide variety of disputes involving commercial, employment and workplace disputes, family conflicts, disputes between young people, (including gangs), as well as restorative justice work with victims and perpetrators of crime. She works with global corporate companies, and individuals as a consultant and executive coach. Many of her clients are based abroad and sessions are conducted face to face and online.

She has written and delivered courses on ADR/Mediation, Conflict in the Music Industry; Co-Mediation; The Role of Culture in Mediation; Existential Coaching: Leadership and Executive Coaching.

She is an established coach and consultant working globally with individuals and companies.

Publications

Books

  • ‘Co-Mediation: using a psychological paired approach to resolving conflict’ (2012), – translated into Romanian in 2013
  • ‘Existential Perspectives on Coaching’ co-edited with Emmy van DeurzenPalgrave/MacMillan (2012)
  •  ‘Tales of Conflict; the role of mediation in resolving conflict’ The CH Group(2014)
  • ‘Existential Coaching Skills: The Handbook’ with Jamie Reed The CH Group (2014)
  • ‘Existential Leadership’ The CH Group (2017)
  • ‘Musical differences’ mediating conflict in the Music Industry’ The CH Group (2018)
  • ‘Being an Existential Leader’ The CH Group (2018)
  • ‘Existential Coaching Skills: The Handbook’ revised second edition (2018)
  • ‘The Existential Leader’, Routledge (2019)
  • ‘An Existential Approach to Leadership Challenges’ Routledge (2019)
  • Psychologically Informed Mediation: Studies in Conflict and Resolution due for publication by Routledge October 2020
  • ‘An Existential Approach to Coaching Supervision’ Routledge (2021)
  • ‘Handbook of Existential Coaching Practice’ Routledge (2020)
  • ‘Psychologically Informed Mediation: Studies in Conflict and Resolution’ Routledge (2020)
  • ‘An Existential Approach to Coaching Supervision’ Routledge(2021)
  • ‘Existentialism in Pandemic Times’ Routledge (2023)
  • ‘Exploring the Role of Culture in Mediation :An Existential Approach for Mediators, Coaches, Psychologists and Organisations’, Routledge (2025)

Chapters

  • What do we mean by psychologically informed mediation Chapter in Co-mediation: Using a psychological, paired approach to resolving conflict, Henley: The CH Group. (2012)
  • Co-Mediation: A very visible model of working with ‘the other’ Chapter in Co-mediation: Using a psychological, paired approach to resolving conflict, Henley: The CH Group. (2012)
  • Why Co-Mediation? Chapter in Co-mediation: Using a psychological, paired approach to resolving conflict, Henley: The CH Group. (2012) Different Co-Mediation Approaches
  • Co-mediation as part of a mediation and conflict coaching pairing Chapter in Co-mediation: Using a psychological, paired approach to resolving conflict, Henley: The CH Group. (2012)
  • Supervising with the Existential Approach in Mind Chapter in Bachkirova & Clutterbuck, ‘Coaching and Mentoring Supervision’, Open University Press, (2020)

She is currently working on a chapter for ‘The Psychology of Coaching’ and on two new  books -one on conflict in the music industry, and the other around cultural factors in conflict and mediation

Diana Mitchell

Diana has worked as a psychotherapist and a supervisor since 1994 and as an accredited mediator since 2006. She worked as a visiting Lecturer at Regent’s University (RU) and currently works as a Visiting Lecturer at the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling (SPCP) in London.

Over the years mediation has become her main interest. Many of her mediations are with her co-mediator Monica Hanaway. She was a core faculty member on the five-day intensive ADR mediation course at Regent’s University. She and Monica have been running their one-day ADR Mediation refresher and Co-mediation courses since 2007. She and Yossi Mekelberg gave regular seminars to students on his International Relations course at Regent’s University focussing on Transferable Mediation Active Listening Skills.  These seminars are now taking place at Roehampton University, Surrey. She has mediated a wide variety of disputes, specialising in family and workplace mediation. She conducted mediations in schools for the education department of Surrey County Council. She has lectured and given presentations on Conflict and Mediation at conferences in Russia (via Zoom), the UK, Latvia, Romania, Malta, and Lithuania to legal, academic, and business institutions, as well as to Government and Educational organisations.

Over the years Diana has also given presentations at various conferences about existential therapy and supervision, challenging some of the taken-for-granted assumptions, that often go hand in hand with being a therapist, tutor, and clinical supervisor. Her articles are regularly published in the Hermeneutic Circular, which is connected to the Society for Existential Analysis. Diana is affiliated with Tutu UK, the UK branch of Archbishop Desmond Tutu Foundation that works towards peace and reconciliation where she and Monica have facilitated talks connected to the ongoing conflict in Northern Ireland for the Tutu Foundation.

She will be delivering a series of existential supervision seminars on Zoom for The Centre for Existential Practice in Sidney, Australia throughout August 2024, and a mediation skills workshop at FODIP (Forum for Discussion of Israel & Palestine) in Manchester.

Publications

Books

  • Barnett A.K & Mitchell D. (2024) Dialogues on The Relationship in Existential Supervision, SEA

Articles and chapters

  • Merleau-Ponty, Certain Uncertainty and Existential Psychotherapy, SEA Journal (1997)
  • Is the Concept of Supervision at Odds with Existential Thinking and Therapeutic Practice? SEA Journal (2002)
  • Anxiety and Engagement, chapter co-written with Nick Kirkland-Handley in: Existential Perspectives on Human Issues, Palgrave, Macmillan (2004)
  • Responsibility in Existential Supervision, chapter in; Existential Perspectives on Supervision, Palgrave, Macmillan (2009)
  • Is Co-mediation better for parties and mediators? Chapter in Co-mediation: Using a psychological, paired approach to resolving conflict, Corporate Harmony. (2012)
  • Existential Psychotherapy and Trust, Existentia: Psychology and Psychotherapy Journal (2019) Translated into Russian.
  • Re-visiting Existential Supervision, SEA Journal (2019)
  • Existential Therapy – Relational Creative Engagement in Action, Re-Visioning Existential Therapy: Counter Traditional Perspective, Ed. Manu Bazanno (2020)
  • Emotional Movement, Music, and Metaphor, Existentia: Psychology and Psychotherapy Journal (2020) Translated into Russian.
  • My Being in Time: How my past lives reveal who I still am, SEA Journal 32.1 (2021) also in translation (Russian) Existentia: Psychology and Psychotherapy Journal (2021)
  • Meaningful relational Connections, Existentia: Psychology and Psychotherapy Journal (2021) in translation – Russian
  • Conflict, Emotions, Uncertainty and Existential Phenomenological Mediation, Existentia: Psychology and Psychotherapy Journal (2023) translated into Russian.
  • Trust and Process in Existential Supervision, mediation, therapy, and Life, Existentia: Psychology and Psychotherapy Journal (2024) translated into Russian and the SEA Hermeneutic Circular (2024)
  • To Protest or not to protest, that is my question, Existentia: Psychology and Psychotherapy Journal (2024) translated into Russian and the SEA Hermeneutic Circular (2024)
  • Honouring, creating and breaking traditions in life and the practice of therapy and supervision, SEA Hermeneutic Circular April 2025.

Associate Trainers and Mediators

Vincent Badu

Vincent is a dedicated management professional and executive director with a proven track record of over 20 year’s senior leadership in public services. Highly skilled in the area of social policy and cross-sector partnership working with a history of demonstrable results and strong solution focused engagement. As an accredited alternative dispute resolution mediator since 2012, he is experienced in people engagement, conflict resolution and coaching. With a portfolio of professional development skills, he brings together his extensive knowledge as a senior leader in complex health and care systems to address inequalities, drive improvement and achieve positive results whilst facilitating shared understanding.

Joanne Henton

Joanne Henton is based on the island of Guernsey, Channel Islands, where she represents M&D Associates. Before qualifying as an accredited mediator, she trained as a SHEN® Therapist. Before that, Joanne worked for Oxford Actuaries and Consultants and for William M Mercer Ltd, based in Westminster office. She specialized in Pensions Actuarial for William M Mercer Ltd working on the valuation and funding levels of major final salary and money purchase pension schemes.

Joanne obtained a Masters Degree in physics from St John’s College, Oxford in 1992.

As a qualified as a mediator as she wants to address conflict in a manner that coincides with the understanding she has developed of the ways in which human emotion are always an important aspect of conflict.

Spencer Hilliard

Spenser is a very experienced barrister and commercial mediator and arbitrator. He has a common law practice centering on business, partnership, licensing and matrimonial disputes. Spenser is on the Communications Committee of the Civil Mediation Council and is a visiting lecturer at the Regents University course on Mediation Skills. He is also on the Delivery Group of the Slynn Foundation.  He is internationally recognised as a skilled and effective commercial mediator and mediation trainer. He has considerable mediation training experience in Eastern Europe and has taught advanced mediation skills in the Middle East on behalf of the Foreign Office and Ministry of Justice. He is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Arbitrators.

Yannick Jacob

Yannick is an Existential Coach (MA), Positive Psychologist (MSc), Accredited Mediator (SPC), Supervisor (DIP) as well as a trainer and academic. He was the Programme Leader of the MSc Coaching Psychology at the University of East London and has been using his coaching skills as well as his psychological and philosophical understanding of conflict to help resolve a variety of disputes within and between people. In 2011 Yannick trained as a mediator at Regent’s University and has since worked with mediation providers such as CMDS, Common Ground, BIMA Group and Converge. He has delivered executive coaching programmes to clients in New York and San Francisco, developed a unique development programme for positive-existential leadership and has his finger on the pulse of the forefront of science.

Publications

Books:

  • An Introduction to Existential Coaching (Routledge, 2019)
  • Positive Psychology for Coaching: An Introduction to Theory & Practice (Animas Centre for Coaching, 2017)
  • Existential Coaching: An Introduction to Theory & Practice (Animas Centre for Coaching, 2016)

Chapters:

  • Existential Perspectives on Integrating Coaching and Counselling – In N. Popovic & D. Jinks (2013). Personal Consultancy. London: Routledge.

Research:

  • Crossing the Line? A qualitative exploration of ICF Master Certified Coaches’ perception of roles, borders and boundaries. Sime & Jacob (2018). International Coaching Review, 13(2), 46-61.

Tim Ojo

Tim is a senior medical consultant of over 20 years experience. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatry and is currently their Associate Registrar for Policy Support . He was previously an Executive Medical Director and Director of Quality in the NHS.
He is a qualified Executive Coach and Leadership Mentor (2008) and accredited mediator (2013) and Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management. He is a Founding Senior Fellow of the Faculty of Medical leadership and management.
He has delivered conflict resolution programmes and coaches leaders in communication effectiveness. He is particularly skilled in conflict resolution where matters of ethnicity, culture and religion are in play.
He is TKI certified. He applies insights from behavioural science to his practice as coach, mediator and organisational consultant.

Publications

Tim has published papers on leadership, coaching and human resource management.

Jamie Reed

Jamie is an Accredited Mediator (SPC: August 2006), a leadership and team coach and retired UKCP (2015) Accredited Psychotherapist. Jamie has lectured on a Bar Council/Law Society accredited Mediation Course at the School of Psychotherapy and Counselling Psychology (SPCP), Regent’s University, London, which has trained and accredited many mediators through its courses in London. Jamie has been Co-Director of The CH Group, with Monica Hanaway – comprising of Corporate Harmony Limited, Community Harmony and the Family Business Mediation Service, offering mediation, coaching, training and consultancy services. The company works with a diverse client group and holds contracts for providing mediation and coaching to some global EAP companies.

Publications

Chapters

  • The Significance of Unlearning in Co-mediation learning, practice and participation Chapter in ‘Co-Mediation: using a psychological paired approach to resolving conflict’ (2012), – translated into Romanian in 2013,
  • Chapter in ‘Existential Perspectives on Coaching’ Emmy van Deurzen & Monica HanawayPalgrave/MacMillan (2012)

Books

  • ‘Existential Coaching Skills: The Handbook’ Monica Hanaway & Jamie Reed The CH Group (2014)

Nigel Smaller

Nigel is an accredited mediator, psychotherapist, and executive coach with a strong corporate foundation. He is schooled in existential and gestalt theory which brings a kind of eastern philosophical feel – generating greater awareness through listening/discussion and blending this with immediate, practical and grounded challenges and experiments involving the whole person – their embodied self, relational self and inner personal world.

Nigel has also worked internationally as a consultant in the corporate world (including IBM, AXA, Dunn and Bradstreet, BT and others) for over 20 years and learned to successfully navigate the technical, cultural, commercial and political challenges of that arena. He consulted globally to divisions of DuPont, Johnson and Johnson, Citigroup, Procter and Gamble, Cap Gemini, Air Products, KPMG and Xansa amongst many others.

Nigel completed a professional doctorate in 2016 exploring mid life career change through an existential-phenomenological lens.

Publications Articles Smaller (2016): “Becoming a pilgrim: the lived experience of men becoming therapists following a former career” Self and Society.

Felix Spender

Felix Spender left school at 18 and enlisted in the Army. He was commissioned as an officer in 1978 and joined the Royal Irish Regiment in Germany. Felix served as a frontline commander in Northern Ireland, the Falkland Islands, the Balkans and Middle East before commanding an Infantry battalion back in Northern Ireland. Felix subsequently deployed as the senior NATO liaison officer to the Albanian Kosovo Protection Corps where he was responsible for brokering complex agreements between multiple stakeholders. Following this, he deployed to Iraq as Chief of Intelligence for NATO where he developed NATO’s influence plan for the region.   Felix left the Army in 2010 and founded Northlight Solutions with the intent of managing conflict through a consensual rather than adversarial approach.  During the last 9 years Felix has undertaken roles as diverse as supporting M&A in UK and Denmark, assisting energy companies, advising Coca-Cola and negotiating with Somali pirates. He gained his accreditation as mediator in 2013 and went on to support Bournemouth City Council neighbourhood reconciliation programme. He went on to conduct conflict resolution programme for Coca-Cola regional team in East Africa and helped to rebuilt a damaged clinical team for an NHS Trust.

Karen Weixel-Dixon

Karen is a psychotherapist, supervisor, trainer, and accredited mediator in private practice, and has been a member of visiting faculty at Regents University London since 1995, on undergraduate and post-graduate programmes, and for the professional programme of Alternative Dispute Resolution, for which she was an original tutor, 1998-current. She has delivered mediation training in London and Singapore. She is an accredited mediator since 2006, who has worked with legal, workplace, banking and family disputes. She is a supervisor of the Metropolitan Police Counselling Team

Publications

Books

  • Existential Therapy: 100 Key points and Techniques (Routledge, 2015.) co editor with Susan Iacovou
  • Interpersonal Conflict: an existential psychotherapeutic and practical model (Routledge, 2017). Sole author
  • Imminent publication: Existential Group Psychotherapy and Counselling, Routledge, 2019. Sole author

Chapters

  • Better Together, Chapter in ‘Co-Mediation: using a psychological paired approach to resolving conflict’ 2nd edition (2014),

Marina Wheeler

Marina Wheeler KC is a barrister, mediator and writer.

She obtained her law degree from Cambridge University, followed by a Master’s Degree in EC law from Brussels University, where she practised initially, specialising in competition, trade and environment law. At the Bar (of England and Wales) she has a broad practice in public, employment and human rights law with a special focus on detention, mental health and national security issues. In addition to employment and public law work, Marina also undertakes complex family law cases, usually in the field of child protection and often involving a human rights or cross-border element. 

Marina qualified as a mediator in 2011 and is an alumnus of the psychologically-informed Mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution course held at Regents University, London. She joined the faculty thereafter, teaching part-time and continues to do so now with M&D Associates.

Marina mediates civil disputes and has special expertise in workplace mediation to which she brings her years of experience litigating employment disputes. She also handles investigations, especially those involving the workplace and the healthcare sector. She has recently refreshed her practice through remote mediations and a further qualification in commercial mediation. 

Publications

Books

In 2020 Marina published a historical family memoir, ‘The Lost Homestead’, charting her Indian mother’s experience during and since Partition. Marina writes, and commentates, regularly about legal issues.

Kelli Wilks

Kelli Wilks is an accredited mediator (SPCP July 2016, CMC Aug 2016), private civil and family mediator, commercial consultant, coach and trainer.  With a career spanning 20 years and two continents, across private and public sector running substantial programs in high-profile commercial negotiations, divestments or business transformations for large multinationals in the IT/Telecomms, Film & Media, Oil & Gas and Transport industries, Kelli is a senior leader, international negotiator and coach.  Drawing on her many years living and working in the US and UK, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, Singapore, and Australia, Kelli brings uncommon experience in both progressive negotiation management and psychoanalytical dispute resolution and legal mediation. In her private practice, Compass Mediation Group, Kelli provides private mediation and dispute resolution services together with conference-based and bespoke in-house negotiation training workshops to small business start-ups, entrepreneurs, and c-level business leaders looking to grow their business, expand their communication skills, or better-prepare their leadership teams for modern conflict.  Utilising the common tenets of validation, empowerment, and the need to be heard, Kelli promotes Person-Centred and Existential counselling techniques as cornerstones of step-change negotiation enabling her clients to think and behave differently in the face of difficult negotiations to achieve lasting and satisfying results.

Kelli’s negotiation programme follows the technical analysis, break-down and creative bi-product of conflict through a five-stage negotiation model that echoes some of the self-determination experiences of Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs together with the important nuances of modern-day Principled Negotiation Theory, intercultural communications and the pressures of Individualism and Collectivism on our global economies, and the reasons why Millennial, so often misunderstood, continue to make the best negotiators