Part of my misspent youth was spent on immersing myself in reading about, taking trainings in and practicing Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). Over the years, NLP has affected my thinking about and approach to my training and practice of mediation. Some readers may not be familiar with NLP. I will provide a, necessarily, brief background here…
This week the 5th World Summit on Elder Mediation is taking place in Glasgow: see http://www.eldermediation.ca/styled-2/index.html. It is an inspiring gathering, bringing together mediators from Canada, Ireland, Spain, Switzerland, England and Scotland, all committed to helping older people deal with conflict in a way that is humane and just. The range of issues is daunting…
This month I want to share with you a little gem of a mediation book, published late last year by the Irish state-funded Family Mediation Service (FMS). I wanted to review this book for two reasons – first of all, because it is an excellent publication which, though written in the context of the 25th…
As you would expect, judges are appointed for their ability to adjudicate, often untested at the time of elevation to the Bench. Once appointed, many jurisdictions around the world then ask their judges to suspend their adjudication skills in favour of mediating controversies coming before the court, often in an effort to reduce backlogs. And it seems…
One of the advantages of using mediation to achieve negotiated solutions is Parties’ possibility to separately communicate with the mediator within what it is called separate sessions or caucus. The differences of perception, the emotions and feelings determined by the ego, the stubbornness or the personality of Parties involved in a conflict are examples of…
This story is for you if: You have made a big mistake in a negotiation and you need a way to recover; Your efforts at settlement have fallen on deaf ears; You have stepped in a negotiation minefield and you need to find a way to get back on track. Periodically we find ourselves…
Scotland is a practical nation. The list of its inventions includes penicillin, anaesthetics, steam engines, tarmac roads and even the decimal point (see http://www.magicdragon.com/Wallace/thingscot.html#Ta). Like the rest of the UK its culture was in part forged by the ‘practical man’ of the Industrial Revolution, rejecting grand theory in favour of trial and error. Its lawyers,…
400,000 mediation case referrals, and nearly 1 million service recipients yearly, with an army of 20,000 volunteer mediators and 1,300 full-time staff members… The State of Community Mediation Report demonstrates the current strength of the community mediation movement in the United States. The Report has recently been published by the National Association for Community Mediation…
For students of South-East Asian political struggles (come on, you know you are out there!) last month marked an important landmark. The Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front signed an historic peace agreement intended to bring an end to 25 years of violent conflict. Of course, this is…
There is much discussion in Ireland at the moment on a proposed new piece of legislation on Mental Capacity. A 740-page Report on submissions to the relevant legislative committee was published yesterday , and though I have yet to even get through the introduction, I find myself wondering whether it might prove to be of…
