Mediation Training
ID-141
Fall 2015
Murray-Aiken Dining Hall (Upstairs)
Duke Fisher
CEO and Leader Trainer
Learning Labs, Inc.
Bainbridge, NY
Phone: 607-967-5917
E-mail: mediator.trainer@gmail.com
November7 & 8, 14 & 15, 2015
10:00am-6:00pm
The Training
Mediation is a growing field that incorporates interdisciplinary academic inquiry
with practical application in policy development and facilitation skill-building practice. At
many universities, undergraduate and graduate programs in conflict analysis and
resolution offer extensive coursework drawing on several disciplines such as psychology,
sociology, social work, and political science. This training is an introduction to the core
skills of conflict resolution.
Mediation is a conflict resolution process that is used in close cooperation with
the courts. Cases such as small claims court disputes and parent/teen conflicts are often
referred by the courts to mediation by trained volunteers. The mediation training is a
partnership with Mediation Matters, a nonprofit agency in Saratoga Springs that
provides mediation services and receives its funding from the New York court system.
This training will certify students as volunteers enabling them to mediate campus
disputes through our own peer mediation program as well as cases referred to
Mediation Matters by the courts. This is an intensive 30-hour training using film clips,
role plays, readings, and discussion that focuses on building facilitation skills.
Many of the skills necessary to be an effective mediator can be counterintuitive.
The skills highlighted here will go far beyond telling people to “calm down” and “find a
compromise.” The kind of mediation practice you will be learning in this course will help
you facilitate dialogue between people of different cultures in diverse and challenging
circumstances. You will learn about the nature of conflict and to identify parties’
underlying needs and assist them in finding solutions that best meet them. With these
skills, we will learn to be better neighbors, coworkers, friends, and family members as
we gain the ability to fearlessly, creatively, and collaboratively respond to the conflicts
in our lives.
Textbook
Training manual is available for purchase in the Skid Shop for $20
Grades
This training is experiential and active participation and attendance is necessary to
receive credit. One paper is required. You will not be graded on your mediation skills.
Paper
DUE: Wednesday 11/11/15 by Midnight. Email it to Duke Fisher at
mediator.trainer.com.
Your grade is dependent on (a) turning it in on time and (b) the completeness of your
answers.
1. What have you learned in the training so far about mediation as a method of conflict
resolution? (300 words)
2. Respond to Duke Fisher’s Mediation Guide. (300 words)
3. Respond to Marshall Rosenberg’s We Can Work it Out. (300 words)
4. Respond to the mediation on YouTube. (300 words)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO3OMVWN8lk
5. Assess your strengths and challenges as a beginning mediator. (300 words)
Schedule
The training takes place over two weekends. Each day is quite intensive, but this
immersion is the best way to develop the skills of a mediator. We will take a one hour
lunch break each day. You can go where you like, including bringing your own lunch.
Getting a good night sleep really helps, but you will be surprised how quickly the days
will go by.