Become a Volunteer Community Mediator

Community mediation is a method of resolving disputes that is completely independent of the judicial system, requiring no lawyers or judges. Our services are conducted by trained volunteers who are members of the community and who empower participants to resolve conflicts by finding common ground and drawing on shared life experiences. The Center’s goal is to reduce violence by ending conflicts before they escalate, and to serve as a community resource to break down the barriers that give rise to conflict in the first place.

Volunteer Mediator Role

▪ Committed to helping the greater community.
▪ Holds an optimistic view of people while they manage their conflict when people are not at their best.
▪ Believes that people can resolve their own conflicts.
▪ Supports unique and individualized thinking and decision-making processes in acknowledgement that people come from different backgrounds that shape their interactions during conflict.
▪ Creates a supportive, safe environment when faced with people in conflict.
▪ Able to overcome personal biases, needs, and interests to not interfere with the process.
▪ Recognizes that being an effective mediator requires continual learning.

MEDIATOR IN TRAINING (“APPRENTICE”) REQUIREMENTS
24 hours of classroom training
18 hours of on-the-job training
15 hours of skill-building sessions
ONGOING COMMITMENT
Volunteer Mediators will additionally participate in on-going supervision and annual skill building sessions.

YEARLY MEDIATION COMMITMENT
Volunteer Mediators will commit at least three hours per month for one year to the Center.