OR: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace Drive-Thru Mediation

Mediation is an extraordinarily powerful tool. The range of conflicts it can address is nearly endless; partcularly since advanced orientations such as Narrative and Trandformative Mediation were developed in recent years. Topics once thought beyone Mediation's reach, such as political turmoil or divorce and separation, now have the potential for collaborative problem solving.

But... what if you're dealing with smaller Conflicts with strict time limits? Exploring the deep connections to emotional history that advanced techniques require isn't feasible on a tight time scale. Does that mean that these Conflicts can't reap the benefits of the Mediation process? The answer is a resounding NO. This training teaches a wide variety of theory and practice that make it possible to apply Mediation effectively, in a very short time, WITHOUT compromising any of its core values.

In a perfect world, every set of Parties would be given as much time as they need to thoroughly explore their Dispute. In reality, of course, the world and its countless imperfections too often make that impossible. The content for this training was developed over years by Mediators practicing in Small Claims Court, schools, and workplaces where the resource in shortest supply was time. It reflects accumulated decades of expertise and a deep knowledge of the dispute resolution process. While the starting point was the Facilitative Orientation, the result can be adopted and adapted into any practice without compromising the practitioner's standards.

The training begins with theory, comparing and contrasting the arroaches that various orientations take in resolving Conflict. The next step is to reframe the Mediator as assisting the Parties in managing Pain; acknowledging the difficulty and discomfort of Conflict and harnessing them as tools to move the process forward productively. The remainder of the instruction enumerates various approaches for addressing Impasse and Shutting Down; the portions of the Mediation process that consume the greatest proportion of time. Practice, practice, proactice is addressed with activities, discussion, and role plays that combine practitioners' existing skills and experience with discrete skills that they can apply immediately.

This training is typically about four hours long and costs $700 plus expenses. Longer trainings are absolutely possible, either for newer practitioners who need a slower pace of instruction or for advanced practitioners who want to take a deeper dive into the content.