About Margaret

Here I tell you a bit about who I am using the acronyms of my professional life. Each of the acronyms that I have listed holds special significance. One that has me smiling every time is TLA: Three Letter Acronym! There are FLAs (Four/Five Acronyms) as well, however, I think of them all as TLAs. They tell the story of my background, my qualifications and my experience, my career and my community involvement.

In About you can read more about me through the explanation of the scope of my practice, its evolution and what is important to me in how the practice operates. You can also read my Profile.

Background

UWA: I studied psychology, geography and education at the University of Western Australia in the early 1970s – the days when the way to demonstrate a balanced lifestyle was to achieve middling grades. It was a decade of great political, social and technological change; a crucible for serendipity. I marched in the moratorium marches; I sewed peace symbols onto my jackets and I let myself think that the answer to world peace was ‘flower power’. I was very young!

Fast forward 40 years…

Current

HDR: Halsmith Dispute Resolution is my Dispute Resolution and Professional Development practice which in 2016 celebrated its 20th year.
Resolution Institute WA: I am an Honorary Life Member of Resolution Institute and a Resolution Institute Luminary
ADRAC: I am a founding member of the Australian Dispute Resolution Advisory Council. ADRAC is a voluntary, unaligned, independent council of 11 individuals. The ADRAC Charter is to provide thought leadership in exploring, researching and promoting better dispute resolution in all areas of Australian life.
EMAN: I am a member of the inaugural Executive of the Elder Mediation Australasian Network
AMS: I am a member of the Aboriginal Mediation Service Mediation and Conflict Resolution Panel, Perth
Published: I am the author of ‘Civic dialogue – leading respectful conversations’ in So you want to be a leader? Philip Crisp (ed) 2015.

Recent past

Resolution Institute: I was Chair of the Board of the organisation formed by the integration of LEADR and IAMA from its foundation in 2014 until 2017 and continued on the board as immediate past Chair until 2018
Resolution Institute FDRP WA SIG: I was an inaugural Executive Member of the Resolution Institute Family Dispute Resolution Practitioners Western Australian Special Interest Group which commenced in 2014
LEADR: Association of Dispute Resolvers: I was a Director from 2004 and Chair of the Board from 2007 including the integration with IAMA before becoming Chair of the integrated body (Resolution Institute).
NADRAC: I was a member of the National Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Council for five years until it was closed. NADRAC advised the Federal Attorney General regarding Dispute Resolution in response to requests from the Attorney General.
IMI: I was Vice Chair of the Independent Standards Commission (the think-tank) of the International Mediation Institute
SCRAM: I was the initiator of the Schools Conflict Resolution and Mediation program in Perth high schools and the Convenor of the SCRAM Committee for seven years
LOC & GOC of GPC: I was a member of the Australian Local Organising Committee and the Global Organising Committee of the Global Pound Conference
LAWA: at Legal Aid Western Australia I was the Senior Mediator in the Dispute Resolution Unit for three years.
WADRA: I was the Deputy Convener of the Western Australian Dispute Resolution Association 2010 to 2017
NMAS: I was the convener of the WADRA Working Group for the development of the standards for the National Mediator Accreditation System
NMC: I was a member of the Board of the National Mediation Conferences for approximately 5 years
NMC08: I was a co-convener of National Mediation Conference held in Perth in 2008
NMAC: I was a member of the National Mediator Accreditation Committee for a number of years
AMATI: I was a member of the Association of Mediation Assessors, Trainers and Instructors
APS DR IG: I was a member of the Australian Psychologists Society Dispute Resolution Interests Group
SBDC: I was a member of the Small Business Development Corporation Mediation Panel, Perth
OFMA: I was a mediator for the Office of the Franchising Mediation Advisor
SIMC: I was a mediator on panel of the Singapore International Mediation Centre
ACDR: I was a member of the first Committee of the Afghanistan Centre for Commercial Dispute Resolution
MPIO: I provided a series of training, including mediation training, for MPIOs (Member Protection Information Officers) through the Department for Sport and Recreation (DSR)

Distant past

GSHS: I taught at Girrawheen Senior High School when it was the northernmost High School in the Perth metropolitan area. Such was the population growth in the Girrawheen and Wanneroo areas that the school ran two shifts.
DET: at the Western Australian Department of Education and Training, in Curriculum Branch, I contributed to writing the ‘Social Studies K – 10’ Curriculum and then wrote textbooks for the ‘new’ curriculum
MU: at Murdoch University in Perth, in the School of Education, I studied Curriculum Theory
MU: At Murdoch University in Perth, in the School of Education, I taught Curriculum Theory
CUT: At Curtin University of Technology in Perth I taught psychology to the education students and later I taught health psychology to the nursing students
ECU: at Edith Cowan University in Perth I taught health psychology to the nursing students
ECU: at Edith Cowan University in Perth, in the School of Business and Law, I wrote and taught ‘Mediation and Dispute Resolution’
UWA: at the University of Western Australia, in the School of Law, I co-taught ‘Negotiation and Mediation’
UNDA: at the University of Notre Dame Australia in Perth, in the School of Behavioural Sciences, I wrote and taught ‘Mediation and Dispute Resolution’.
MU: at Murdoch University in Perth, in The Law School, I was a guest lecturer for ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution)

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