The Conflict Mediation Program is a two-day voluntary program we offer in schools to students ages 12-21.

During these two days, students will gain hands-on experience about peer mediation through acting out scenarios with each other. The idea behind peer mediation is that often time, students will feel safer with their peers than they would with faculty members. This also levels the playing field as in a peer-to-peer situation that’s being actively monitored, no one student will have more power or authority than another, leading to a more comfortable environment for all involved. The mediators are to remain neutral and unobtrusive throughout the process, simply guiding the disputants to discuss the issue at hand and find a collaborative resolution that satisfies all parties involved.

While students are given script in the beginning, they’re encouraged to go off-book once they’ve gotten comfortable. Real life is messy and unpredictable, and this program aims to prepare students for the situations they’ll be encountering once they leave our controlled environment.

Research shows that this method of conflict mediation results in safer schools. When students are given the opportunity to discuss their problems in a comfortable, safe environment, it stops small disputes from escalating, leading to a generally calmer and better learning environment.

All students sign an agreement of confidentiality when they sign up for the program, giving disputants an extra level of security should they choose to go through mediation. Mediation, both the participation in the program and being mediated in a live setting is always voluntary. Students are taught to seek consent from all parties involved before beginning mediations and confidentiality is very important.

As with all consent, it can be revoked at any point. If a disputant feels as though the mediation isn’t helpful or productive, they can tell the mediators that they wish to stop and it will.

We also do weekly check-ins with schools we’ve already visited to discuss students’ progress and further develop their skills. We discuss some of the conflicts they’ve seen, support students as they take on these roles within their environments and continue to act out scenarios, really trying to get students to adapt to their situations in the moment. This is the only place where students are able to discuss the conflicts they’ve mediated. The conflicts students see is never to become lunchroom gossip.

The goal of this program is to not only create a safer and more comfortable school environment, but also to equip students with the skills to approach situations calmly and rationally as they grow into adulthood, lowering the risk of finding themselves in conflict with the law.