What you can expect
Small numbers, careful debriefs, written materials, and a quiet follow-up conversation a month later.
Return HomeAt a glance
Read these as design choices rather than promises. They describe what we do, not what we claim about outcomes.
Open workshops cap at twelve. Everyone takes the mediator's chair multiple times across two days.
Most of the workshop is rounds and debriefs. Frameworks sit between practice sets, not in place of them.
Each participant leaves with notes, prompts, and frameworks they can keep practicing with afterwards.
Four weeks after the workshop, a one-to-one call with a facilitator. Most learning lands in those weeks.
A session on what to take home and what to leave behind closes every workshop. The work asks something of you.
A short selection of essays and notes arrives a week early. We start from shared ground rather than a blank page.
Expertise
Our facilitators carry active caseloads. They come into the studio with this morning's mediation still fresh — and that means the examples in the workshop are recent, the language is current, and the difficulties named are the difficulties we've been sitting with ourselves. Lead facilitators are accredited under the Hong Kong Mediation Accreditation Association General Mediator scheme and log continuing professional development annually.
Practice
A round is a fifteen to twenty minute practice in which one participant takes the mediator's chair, another two play the parties, and the rest of the room observes. After each round comes a debrief — the mediator first, then the parties, then the observers, then a short note from the facilitator. The structure is steady and the feedback is specific. Across two days, most participants hold the mediator's chair four or five times.
Approach
There is a temptation in this work to reach quickly for tools — frameworks, scripts, checklists. We hold off. The first half of day one is mostly listening practice, with no problem to solve. We've found that participants who learn to slow down before they reach for technique do better with technique when it eventually arrives.
Care
Mediation skills work touches on real material — strong feeling, conflict, sometimes grief. We treat the room as a space where that material is welcome and held. Participants are never required to bring personal cases; scenarios are our default. If something does come up, the facilitator team is trained to notice and to make a quiet invitation to step out for a few minutes.
Continuity
Booking a workshop opens a longer conversation with us. The pre-reading arrives a week ahead. The workshop runs for two days. Four weeks later we offer a one-to-one reflection call, and graduates can come back for a half-day Reflective Practice Session whenever they wish. We try to be the kind of studio you can stay in touch with.
Value
Our open workshop sits at HKD 4,800 for two full days, with all materials, refreshments, and the follow-up call included. In-house team workshops start at HKD 7,500 and are quoted after a scoping conversation. Half-day Reflective Practice Sessions are HKD 1,200. We do not run discounts; the price is the price, and we'd rather keep the rooms small than pad them.
A sense of difference
Without naming anyone in particular, here's how our approach compares to what you'll often find in larger training programmes.
| Element | A typical larger programme | Halcyon Hall |
|---|---|---|
| Group size | Twenty to thirty in a room | Twelve, capped, on open workshops |
| Practice time per participant | One or two short rounds, often partial | Four to five full rounds across two days |
| Lecture-to-practice ratio | Roughly half and half | Around one quarter framing, three quarters practice |
| Debrief structure | Often informal or rushed at the end | Structured debrief after every round, mediator first |
| Materials | Slides shared after the event | Printed workbook plus pre-reading sent a week ahead |
| Follow-up | Email reminder, sometimes a feedback form | One-to-one reflection call four weeks later |
| Self-care for facilitators | Rarely addressed directly | A dedicated session at the close of every workshop |
What is particular to us
Four weeks after the workshop, a one-to-one call with a facilitator. Half an hour, by phone or video, to talk about what you've been practicing in the meantime. It's the part of our offering that participants tell us mattered most.
Our practice scenarios aren't drawn from textbooks. They are written by working mediators based on the kinds of conversations Hong Kong professionals actually navigate — workplace, family business, schools, multicultural teams.
After every workshop, the facilitator team meets to review the workbook against what worked in the room and what didn't. Participants of next month's cohort get a slightly better book than this month's did.
Reflective Practice Sessions are our way of staying in touch with graduates. Three hours, one theme, eight people. Many of our regulars have come back four or five times over the years.
Quietly, over time
We don't tend to lead with numbers, but here are some — for those who like to know.
Eight
Years running
Founded 2018
Six hundred+
Participants
Across all formats
HKMAAL
Accredited
Lead facilitators
Twelve
Capped at
Per open workshop
Send us a short note about what you do and the conversations you find difficult. We'll write back with the workshop we think suits you, and you can decide from there.
Send a Note