BECOME A MEDIATOR


30-Hour Mediation training

Become a skilled mediator through MetroWest Mediation Services' 30-hour mediation training. 

MetroWest Mediation Services’ (MWMS) course is designed to train individuals from a variety of backgrounds including business, education, law, and social services, who want to become effective mediators and skilled facilitators of the mediation process. The training meets the requirements outlined in the Massachusetts Confidentiality Statute (MGL ch233 sec 23C) and Rule 8(c)(i) of the MA Supreme Judicial Court’s Uniform Rules on Dispute Resolution.

Dates:

Training 1: January 27, 29, 31 and February 3 & 5, 2025

Training 2: July 14, 16, 18, 21 & 23, 2025

Training 3: October 20, 22, 24, 27 & 29, 2025

Hours: 8:30am - 3:30pm (EST) each day

Location: Virtual - Held on Zoom

Cost: $875

  • View a recording of a webinar to learn more about the training

  • Course approved for 30 PDPs for Massachusetts Educators

  • Contact to learn about group rates.

  • Bronder Scholarship - Needs based support to attend training

30-Hour Virtual Mediation Training
$875.00
Dates:
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Testimonials from recent training:

BECOME A MEDIATOR

MWMS’s 30-hour training prepares you to mediate through a variety of methodologies including role-plays based on actual case-studies, simulated mediations, lectures and discussion.

MWMS’  mediation training is designed for anyone interested in learning to constructively deal with conflicts that arise in their personal and professional lives. This includes people who want to apply mediation skills to their current jobs and those looking to enter a career in mediation. Others take the training so that they can volunteer as a mediator with MetroWest Mediation Services.

Common backgrounds of participants:

  • Community leaders, retirees

  • Human resource professionals, managers (Course qualifies for SHRM credit)

  • Social workers, mental health providers, non-profit staff

  • Attorneys, paralegals, court employees

  • Educators, administrators

Through the training you will:

  • Develop proficiency in the facilitative model of mediation, in which you help empower parties to resolve their disputes

  • Explore a new perspective of conflict as an opportunity for change

  • Become a more effective listener through active listening skills such as the Listening Triangle

  • Learn to manage the mediation process and deal with challenging parties

  • Gain advanced mediation skills such as re-framing, identifying interests, and using neutral language

  • Practice your skills in a series of simulated mediations and exercises

  • Acquire the knowledge and experience that meets the Massachusetts Trial Court guidelines for mediators

Topics included in this training:

  • The Alternative Dispute Resolution Spectrum

  • The Five Styles of Dealing with Conflict

  • The Principles of Mediation

  • Mediation Models and the Facilitative Process

  • Positions and Interests

  • Overcoming Impasse

  • Negotiating Agreement

  • Critical Issues in Mediation: Ethical Dilemmas, Power Imbalance, Cultural Differences, and Bias Awareness

In this interactive training, you will learn to mediate through:

  • Presentations by experienced mediators

  • 2 mediation demonstrations

  • Video of an actual mediation

  • 8 mediation simulations (roleplays) in which you will gain experience as a mediator and party in a conflict situation

  • Partner/group exercises and discussions

TRAINING TEAM

Training Team List
Seth Izen
Seth Izen

Seth is Executive Director of MetroWest Mediation Services. Seth has been active in community mediation in Massachusetts since 2008, completing a practicum with the Cambridge Dispute Settlement Center, mediating on the district court panel of the Middlesex Law Center in Lowell, and serving as the Peer Mediation Coordinator at North Shore Community Mediation Center.

Eric Greene
Eric Greene

Eric Greene is Director of Community Dispute Resolution at MetroWest Mediation. He has mediated Civil, Small Claims and Summary Process cases in courts throughout Greater Boston. Eric currently runs the prisoner re-entry mediation program. He is also a trained divorce mediator.

Kayla Allen
Kayla Allen

Kayla Allen is the Program Director of the Dispute Resolution Center at Berkshire County Regional Housing Authority (BCRHA) in Pittsfield, MA. She began working at the BCRHA in 2015, having mediated hundreds of court-connected and community-based disputes during her time at the agency.

Robert Smith
Robert Smith

Robert Smith is a Professor of Law at Suffolk University Law School, where he previously served as Dean of the Law School.  His teaching and research interests include Mediation, Negotiation and Alternative Dispute Resolution.  He has written articles on the use of video training in mediation and on case studies in mediation. 

Mindy Milberg
Mindy Milberg

Melinda Milberg is an attorney, mediator, arbitrator and trainer with over 40 years’ experience and a solo practice in Natick, Massachusetts. She was appointed by the Governor as a Public Member of the Board of Medicine, and has served as a hearing officer for physician discipline cases. Currently she serves as a Hearing Officer for the Commonwealth Connector, and as arbitrator for FINRA.

Li Morrison
Li Morrison

Li is Director of Court Mediation and Conciliation at MetroWest Mediation. She also coordinates the Housing Mediation Program which provides mediation to landlords and tenants in eviction cases. Li is also trained in divorce, summary process, and permanency mediations.

how do i serve as a mediator after the training?

Participants who want to serve as a volunteer mediator with MetroWest Mediation Services apply to the practicum program after the training. The practicum program is a series of supervised observations and co-mediations in court with an experienced mediator. The practicum provides an opportunity for participants to experience actual mediations in a court setting and receive mentorship to improve skills and ability as a mediator. We typically accept around 3-5 people to the practicum program each year. Preference is given to those who have completed the MetroWest Mediation training (as opposed to those who have done the training at another center.)  

““My two sons, who had been attentively listening to my end of the phone conversation, jumped off the couch to congratulate me on successfully using my active listening skills!  I was amazed at how well the situation resolved and grateful to put my recent mediation training to such good use!” ”
— Training Participant
30-Hour Virtual Mediation Training
$875.00
Dates:
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Register


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