As a mediator who likes to think that I help parties understand and work with their emotions and their underlying needs and interests, the training I attended last month on Nonviolent Communication (NVC) was fascinating. They say it can take three years to really understand how to incorporate NVC fully into your life, and I don’t profess to really understand NVC after one weekend, but this introduction was fascinating. This introductory seminar didn’t address how to mediate in the light of NVC, but it left me reflecting on how that might happen. (more…)
Author Archive
Mediation and Non-Violent Communication
Susan M. Yates, July 5th, 2012Leaving an ADR Legacy
Susan M. Yates, December 14th, 2011Court ADR lost a champion yesterday when Judge Harris H. Agnew, RSI’s long-time Executive Committee Chair, passed away after a long struggle to regain his health. Judge Agnew led by example, with kindness and courage. This blog post I wrote back in April talks about the tremendous role he played in advancing court ADR in Illinois. But there was so much more to Harris than just his work with ADR.
Those of us who were fortunate to know him learned a lot from Harris:
Leading sometimes means doing what is right, even when others don’t see it.
Whether it was mentoring the first women to join the bench in the 17th Judicial Circuit or implementing arbitration and mediation there, Harris stuck his neck out. He opened doors for people and ideas that would bring positive change even in the face of opposition.
Be kind, but don’t be a patsy.
Harris was so kind to everyone he met that it took me a while to understand just how politically savvy he really was. (more…)
Uniform Mediation Act – Ten Years Later
Susan M. Yates, July 1st, 2011The JAMS Dispute Resolution Alert has a good article by Justin Kelly about the ten-year anniversary of the Uniform Mediation Act. Having participated in some of the deliberations during the drafting of the Act, I have been interested to see how it has been implemented.
One thing that stands out to me, even after ten years, is the lack of clarity among mediators, lawyers and the mediating public about exactly what the Act provides in terms of confidentiality. Many see the UMA as providing confidentiality of all mediation communications. In fact, what it provides is much narrower than that. (more…)
Professor Seeks Domestic Violence Screening Tools
Susan M. Yates, June 28th, 2011Prof. Susan Raines of Kennesaw State University is seeking examples of instruments used by mediation programs to screen for domestic violence. She writes:
“As Georgia considers revising its screening tools and policies for domestic violence in mediation, I am seeking examples from other jurisdictions within and outside the United States. As a researcher at Kennesaw State University’s Conflict Management Master’s Program, it is my hope that any changes to Georgia’s DV screening and policies will reflect the current state of knowledge on the subject as well as best practices from our peer courts.”
If your state or program has tools to share please send them to Susan (sraines@kennesaw.edu). She may also conduct a small number of interviews with court staff, judges, or mediators in other states. If Susan’s name sounds familiar, it may be because she is the editor of Conflict Resolution Quarterly, where she does a great job juggling lots of potential articles and putting together a quality publication.
