Communication and Conflict Resolution

For two hours, we will be in a circle and engage as a group in exercises that bring deeper self-awareness, develop communication skills, and strengthen conflict resolving skills.

The exercises are fun, engaging and eye opening.

You will need chairs and space with either a white board and supplies or large newsprint pads with pens and tape.

If I am required to travel beyond 30 minutes from my location, I require fuel reimbursement. I will travel anywhere, even out of state.

Michelle Espinosa is a Los Angeles native and Directing Fellow graduate of The American Film Institute where she was the Mary Pickford and Remy Martin Foundations Grants recipient. She was interviewed in American Film magazine and by New York Times who described her award winning short film, Pinfeathers, as having a “Salammbô-like decadence ...”

She was also featured in American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award broadcast on CBS. AFI Conservatory Director ​described Michelle as a " ...gifted, original talent, and ... true story teller."

Her first film, Silence, was showcased by The Director's Guild of America Theater in Los Angeles for several years and presented by L.A. Film Forum. She is the writer of When Rent is Due, a play, which premiered at New City Theater in Seattle and author of All The Leaving, a novel. All The Leaving has been translated into Spanish and published in Mexico and is available in thirteen bookstores in Mexico City including the Mexico City International Airport.

Her films, Silence and Pinfeathers, screened in Seattle and were favorably reviewed in “The Stranger” and “Seattle Times.”

Pinfeathers is the recipient of a Silver Plaque at Chicago International Film Festival.

Michelle is a volunteer member of the Los Angeles City Mayor's Crisis Response Team as responder and on-call manager. CRT is called on scene by Los Angeles Fire Department and Los Angeles Police Department to assist witnesses and family when there is a fatality or multi-casualty incident.

As a monthly lead facilitator and prison coordinator with Alternatives to Violence Project, a process by which inmates at a state prison learn communication, coping skills, and deeper self-awareness as an alternative to violence, Ms. Espinosa spends three days a month facilitating AVP for twenty inmates at California City Correctional Facility where she is the AVP prison coordinator.

The Los Angeles Mayor presented Ms. Espinosa with the President's Volunteer Service Award in 2015. For over fifteen years she has been facilitating, developing, coaching, and training, Conflict Resolution and Non-Violence. ​

As a practicing mediator and facilitator with the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office for eighteen years, Ms. Espinosa has coached students at U.C.L.A. Law School Mediation classes.

She also coaches middle school peer mediators in L.A. schools and has been lead facilitator for several large public dialogues in L.A. involving city officials and community members.