Access Resources

Access Resources is a New York-based conflict management firm providing mediation, training and consultation for a wide range of clients including government agencies, small businesses, non-profit organizations, corporations, labor unions and individuals.

Executive Director Judy Cohen offers skill, understanding and optimism to help people and organizations in conflict work things out. She is knowledgeable about the kinds of conflicts that commonly interfere with the smooth functioning of workplaces and other organizations.  She also knows that every individual and each organization and partnership is unique.  In her conflict management consulting and training, she collaborates closely with her clients to identify the particular issues that are most important to them.  She helps them explore the issues and potential options, so that they can develop solutions that are right for them. 

For twenty years, Judy Cohen has been helping people find new ways to work together!

Conflict management services

• Small business partnership mediation
• Workplace mediation
• Business/customer mediation
• Disability-related mediation
• Conflict management training
• Mediator training
  
  On October 18th, Judy was interviewed by the Texas Conflict Coach, Pattie Porter, on ""Workplace Mediation Involving People with Disabilities: Collaborating to Make it Accessible."   Tune in to listen to a replay of this 30 minute broadcast!

Background

Judy Cohen founded Access Resources in 1992, training employers and unions in disability awareness and in the recently enacted Americans with Disabilities Act.  She soon expanded her practice to include mediation, specializing in workplace and other organizational conflicts.  

In 1998 she gathered a work group of mediation practitioners and administrators to design guidance for the mediation of disputes involving people with disabilities.  The resulting ADA Mediation Guidelines are now the "go to" resource for assisting mediation providers to make their services accessible to people with disabilities and ensure their full participation in the process. 

Beginning in 2001, as an ADR Program Manager at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Judy designed and implemented a workplace  mediation program.  In that position, she developed a unique mediator training and mentoring program, which she describes in her article Reflective Practice: How Veterans Can Benefit from Rookie Training. 

In her next position, as an Organizational Development Program Manager at the FAA, Judy provided mediation, coaching, group faciliation, and training to field office managers and employees.   She also functioned as an internal consultant to organizational leaders on work environment and other systemic challenges.  

In that position, Judy was one of the pioneers trying out the now-accepted idea that workplace conflict management needs to address the whole workplace, and not just focus on individual problems.   She describes how she put this concept into practice at the FAA in Going Beyond ADR: A Federal Sector Mission- and Work Life-Centered Approach to Building Collaboration and Democratic Values on the Job. 

Mediator panel membership

• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
• Instititute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR), Employment Disputes Panel 
• U.S. Department of Justice ADA Mediation Program (KeyBridge Foundation) 
• U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, Federal Mediation Program, N.Y. Region
• U.S. Department of Navy, Mentor Mediator  
• International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR), Employment Roster 

Professional affiliations and credentials

• American Bar Association (ABA), Section of Dispute Resolution, Member 
• International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR),
  Employment Committee, Appointed Member
• Interagency ADR Working Group, Subcommittee on Confidentiality in
  Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), 2003-2005
• New York City Bar Association, Committee on ADR,
  Appointed Member, 1998-2003
• John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York,
  Adjunct Professor, Alternative Dispute Resolution, 1999-2002
• ABA Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law; Appointed Member;
  Committee on Mediation and Dispute Resolution Chair, 1999-2002
• New York Institute of Technology, School of Management, Center for
  Labor and Industrial Relations, Adjunct Professor, ADR,1998-2001
• CUNY Dispute Resolution Consortium, Workplace Conflict Management
  Training Program, Founder and Coordinator,1999-2001
•  ADA Mediation Guidelines, Project Coordinator