Like any other organization that’s serious about its work, the mediators who are trained in civil matters are seeking to structure themselves as one unit. Like attorneys, these mediators want to be part of a body which is credible, united and organized. Consuelo Godfrey is a trustee of the steering committee which is pushing the association mandate. She told News Five that they are almost halfway towards reaching their goal of a duly registered and recognized Mediation Association.
Consuelo Godfrey, Trustee, Steering Committee
“Presently what the court-connected mediators are trying to do in the country is trying to form an association for mediation, and the first step in doing this is what they’ve done is put together a steering committee to get Constitution settled, bylaws completed, perhaps talk about the whole idea of ethics of mediators – you know, kind of similar to what the attorneys have to do when they are a part of the Bar Association. We also want to form an association that brings us together as one group, as one unit…we have a common goal, we are here to serve the public in civil matters and we are also here to ensure that when we are in the business of mediation we do it to the best of our abilities and as professional as possible. So the steering committee is actually a committee of what we would call the foundational committee, and then from that we are hoping that within a few months we can actually get an executive committee established that will then head the mediation association. The members of the steering committee have expressed their interest in doing as best as they can put in time and effort to ensure that we establish this executive council of the mediation association…get our members registered, putting them in a database, putting their expertise profile online and giving it to the public…the infomercial is occurring right now, so there is this whole launch of getting this established. So I think by December we should see some really good strides in getting this association rolling on out to the second phase.”
As we told you, currently there are fifty-two specially trained court-connected mediators. There are others, though, trained in the resolution of other conflicts, like in the case of a situation breaking out at a school or at the prison.
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