As a family mediator, Damien d'Ursel is committed to welcoming and supporting couples and families in situations of conflict, misunderstanding, separation or divorce, and more in general when a reorganization is required either on a family, patrimonial or financial level. He will receive you in either French, English and Spanish.

His approach is both transformative and systemic. His knowledge of family law enables him to help the parties find creative solutions.

A first meeting with all parties, and their lawyers (if they wish), will be the opportunity both to get to know each other, and to clarify everyone's expectations. The mediation then continues without the lawyers, even though the latter will retain an important role in supporting and giving legal advice to their clients throughout the procedure or whenever required.

Damien d'Ursel is also a trained parent coach.

Experience, corroborated by recent studies, show the benefit for children to be given an opportunity to express their feelings and needs when the family reorganization will impact them. Damien d’Ursel will therefore, with parental consent, also receive the children.

Furthermore, he has specialised in international, intercultural, patrimony and inheritance mediation as well as in situations of risk of severed parent/child relationships, parent-teen conflicts, and in general in family mediation in high conflict situations.

For a general presentation of family mediation please check the following link.

Damien d'Ursel is a qualified trainer for mediators and anyone that interacts with families. He is a certified mediator and trainer in transformative mediation (ISCT, USA).

His training sessions focus, among other things, on interculturality in mediation, high conflict management, and parent coaching.

He is a trainer at the following universities: UCLouvain, “Formation spécialisée et interdisciplinaire à la médiation familiale“ (Training course in specialized and interdisciplinary training in family mediation), Université Saint-Louis,”Formation à la médiation locale, scolaire, pénale et en soins de santé“, (Training course in local community, school, penal and healthcare mediation), Université Paris-Nanterre, “Préparation au Diplôme d’État de Médiateur familial“, (Preparation for the State Diploma of Family Mediator), University of Fribourg (Switzerland), where he is co-responsible for the “Diploma of Advanced Studies” (DAS) in “Médiation civile judiciaire et hauts conflits familiaux” (Civil, Judicial and High Conflict Families, Mediation).

Furthermore, he works as a regular trainer at APME Formation (Paris), and at the training organisation ForMédiation (Brussels), of which he is coordinator. He supervises groups for mediators, both in Belgium and in France.

He is a regular speaker in international seminars and study days on mediation and family issues. He has written numerous articles, and is the author of the book: “La médiation, entre tradition et modernité familiales. Le défi de la médiation pour tous par une prise en compte des modèles familiaux, des valeurs et des cultures” (Presses Universitaires de Louvain, 2010).

University degrees:

- Law degree (UCLouvain 1987)

- Additional diploma in economics (UCLouvain 1993)

- University certificate “Santé mentale en contexte social : multiculturalité et précarité », social-anthropological approach (UCLouvain et Service de Santé mentale Le Méridien, 2008)

Damien d’Ursel has attended the following long training courses:

- Basic and additional training in family mediation by Catherine GHIJS, lawyer, systemic therapist and family mediator, and Jean VAN HEMELRIJCK, psychologist and systemic therapist (OBFG 1999-2001)

- The use of systemic analysis tools in family mediation, by Maggy SIMEON, family therapist and systemic trainer, and Geneviève HERINCKX, lawyer and family mediator (1999-2009)

- Supervision (1999-2009) with : Noëlle de BRABANDERE, lawyer and mediator, Maggy SIMEON, Aboudé ADAMI, systemic therapist and practitioner in Drama, Moncef SLAMA, systemic therapist; and, since September 2020, with Nathalie PAIVA, systemic family therapist

- Training in analytical psychodrama (CFIP 2006-2008)

- Representative of French-speaking Belgium as part of the "Training for Trainers in International Family Mediation”: intensive training under the aegis of the European Union, organized by Child Focus and the German and Dutch agencies for intervention in cases of parental child abduction (2012)

- Parent coaching (The Parent Practice, London, 2017-2018)

- Training in the transformative model of mediation towards the certificate of transformative mediator and the degree of trainer in transformative mediation (Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation, Dayton, USA, 2017-2020)

- Several training courses on listening to children, child psychology, receiving the children in a mediation, intervention in situations of risk of severed parent/child relationships, parent-teen conflicts, and numerous trainings in different approaches to family monitoring (in particular, systemic, strategic and contextual approaches) and communication (non-violent communication).