Kim Best

Kim Best 

Institute for Conflict Management

Adjunct Faculty



Biography

Kimberly Best brings a distinctive combination of clinical healthcare experience and advanced education in conflict management to the Lipscomb Institute. Drawing on decades as a critical care nurse, she understands what happens when people face high-stakes decisions under pressure and how communication breaks down when it matters most. That frontline perspective shapes her teaching, her practice, and her commitment to helping people find their best way forward through conflict.

Kim is a Tennessee and Missouri Court listed Civil and Family mediator, FINRA Arbitrator, and founder of Best Conflict Solutions, LLC. Her practice focuses on healthcare disputes, adult family mediation, civil and business mediation, organizational conflict management, and conflict coaching. She is a senior mediator with the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office Community/Police Unification Program and a consultant with Mediators Beyond Borders International. She is a frequent speaker and trainer on mediation skills, conflict management, emotional intelligence in mediation, life transitions, and difficult decision-making, and has been published in the Australian Dispute Resolution Journal, Medscape, Missouri Nursing Journal, Newsweek, SHRM, and other outlets.

Kim is Immediate Past President of the Tennessee Association of Professional Mediators, Past Membership Officer of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, and a board member of the Association of Missouri Mediators. She is the author of How to Live Forever: A Guide to Writing the Final Chapter of Your Life Story and creator of the Best Conflict Conversation Cards.

Academic Degrees

  • MA, Conflict Management, Lipscomb University Institute for Conflict Management, 2014
  • Master's Certificate, Clinical/Community Psychology, University of North Carolina Charlotte, 1994
  • BA, Psychology, University of North Carolina Charlotte, 1992
  • RN Diploma, Jewish Hospital School of Nursing, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1980 (licensed to current date)

Advanced Training and Certificates

  • Advanced Negotiation: Leveraging Emotions, Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School
  • Overcoming Resistance: The Influence Equation, Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School
  • Conflict Resolution Consulting, Pepperdine University School of Law
  • Transformative Mediation, Hofstra University School of Law
  • Negotiating and Mediating Healthcare Disputes, University of South Florida
  • Restorative Practices Training of Trainers, International Institute of Restorative Practices
  • Facilitating Meetings Around Community Conflict, U.S. Department of Justice
  • Facilitating Learning Circles/Restorative Justice Conferencing, IIRP
  • Advanced Mediation and Conflict Systems Design, Kenneth Cloke