Book Review: Conflict Resolution for the Helping Professions: Negotiation, Mediation, Advocacy, Facilitation and Restorative Justice (Third Edition) by Allan Edward Barsky

• Author: Michael Saini
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12331
• Date: 01 January 2018
• Published date: 01 January 2018

THE BOOK SHELF

BOOK REVIEW: CONFLICT RESOLUTION FOR THE HELPING

PROFESSIONS: NEGOTIATION, MEDIATION, ADVOCACY,

FACILITATION AND RESTORATIVE JUSTICE (THIRD EDITION) BY

ALLAN EDWARD BARSKY

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Michael Saini

The third edition of Dr. Allan Barsky’s (2017) book entitled Conflict Resolution for the Helping Professions: Negotiation,

Mediation, Advocacy, Facilitation and Restorative Justice is reviewed based on content, style, and relevance to the field of

conflict resolution. The third edition offers an expanded exploration of conflict resolution across practice settings, making it an

instructive read for diverse professionals interested in learning how to best help others resolve conflict. The scaffolding struc-

ture of the text, the problem-solving approach embedded into the presentation of the materials, and the use of real-life exam-

ples makes this an important source for educators and trainers in the field of conflict resolution.

Key Points for the Family Court Community

The book offers extensive coverage of the fundamental principles of conflict resolution.

The book offers essential skills and competencies for effective conflict resolution.

This book will have general appeal for diverse practice settings and client populations.

Learning objectives within each chapter and the inclusion of quizzes in the supplemental materials also provides the

reader with opportunities to test their acquisition of core knowledge.

Keywords: Advocacy; Book Review; Conflict Resolution; Conflict Theory; Facilitation; Mediation; Negotiation; and

Peacebuilders.

Seventeen years ago, Professor Allan Barsky published the first edition of his book Conflict Reso-

lution for the Helping Professions (back then, the book was published by Wadsworth Publishing, a

division of Thomson Learning). I first discovered the book in 2005 while preparing to teach a conflict

resolution course for undergraduate social work students. Based on my research of the collection of

books on conflict resolution at the time, I adopted Dr. Barsky’s book as the primary textbook for the

course. The first edition provided a solid foundation of the range of theories and perspectives on con-

flict resolution and encouraged learners to deconstruct the various models of conflict resolution in

terms of their underlying values and assumptions. The book also offered many practical skills for

reflective practice across the helping professions and offered realistic and relevant case examples and

activities that could be integrated into the classroom setting. Students were equally impressed with

the textbook. Both informal and formal feedback about the use of Dr. Barsky’s book as the course

textbook was consistently positive. Students praised the book as adding value to their learning expe-

rience and their ability to apply conflict concepts, both within the classroom and field placement set-

tings and in their interpersonal relationships.

As part of my preparation for this book review, I recently included the third edition in my

graduate-level family mediation course and integrated several case examples, discussion questions,

and role plays from the book into the classroom setting. In addition, I considered the instructor’s

Correspondence: michael.saini@utoronto.ca

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 56 No. 1, January 2018 195–199

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C2018 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts