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Community Mediation
How can community mediation help you?
Having a disagreement with a neighbour, roommate, family member or someone else can cost you peace of mind, interfere with the enjoyment of your home or neighbourhood, create stress in your life, and make you angry or afraid. Small conflicts can become big ones if they are not resolved quickly. The traditional ways of resolving conflicts, like calling the police or a lawyer, can be very time-consuming and expensive, and often simply don't work.
Community mediation is an alternative way for resolving various forms of conflict. CRS-trained volunteer mediators help people to talk about a problem in a safe and constructive way, fair to both sides. The process acknowledges people's rights and obligations. Mediation focuses on people's needs and interests and the extent to which conflict has impacted on their values and lifestyles.
The solution is yours. The mediators do not take sides, or make decisions about who is right or wrong. There is no agreement until those involved in the conflict are satisfied. Agreements made through mediation are effective because the people involved truly want them to work.
Mediation is voluntary and confidential, and for most disputes, is free.
Here's how the mediation process works:
1. A staff person will listen to your problem and explain our service.
2. If you decide you want to try mediation, we will contact the other party to see if they are willing to participate.
3. If you both decide to go ahead, volunteer mediators will meet with each of you privately to get more information and make sure our process will meet your needs.
4. We will hold a mediation meeting with the people involved in the conflict. Each party will be asked to explain their side of the problem and, in turn, listen to the other side's. Most conflicts can be resolved in one meeting.
Statement of Community Mediation:
1. The purpose of the Community Mediation Program is to help people change the way they relate to each other, especially in conflict, and to help people change their own approaches to conflict.
2. It is about assisting people to strengthen the humanity inherent in all relationships, strengthen the social fabric of our communities and rebuild trust in each other.
3. We are committed to social justice, social change and developing a culture of non-violence through a transformative conflict resolution approach using interest-based mediation.
If you are interested in joining CRS as a volunteer mediator, please read our Volunteer Information and fill out the Volunteer Mediator Application Form.