Community Mediation Training

The Dispute Resolution Center of Yakima and Kittitas Counties is offering a Basic Mediation Training where trainees will receive 40 hours of instruction in the skills necessary to serve as a neutral third-party mediator, including hands-on experience in mediation and invaluable communication and listening tools that can help in every aspect of people’s work and home lives.   Cultivate the following skills: Active Listening  Identifying feelings and needs behind grievances  De-escalation   Identifying common ground   Collaborative communication  Empathy  Additional training that leads to mediator certification will be available to those who complete the course and volunteer for the DRC.   Volunteer Mediators Needed   At the DRC, mediators are integral to the DRC’s mission to build more just and peaceful communities. They help resolve many types of disputes, including small claims court cases, parenting plans and parenting issues, marriage dissolutions, landlord/tenant issues, consumer/business issues, family caregiver and other senior issues, parent/teen conflicts, victim/offender meetings, foreclosure cases, and employment, neighborhood, and family disagreements.  Resolving Disputes Peacefully Mediation is an effective way to resolve disputes as an alternative to court, a way where people in the midst of a conflict sit down together to discuss the conflict and develop their own solutions.  Mediation is a great way to cultivate neutral and nonviolent dispute resolution in our community and bring people together.