As a community mediation center, we train community members who reflect Essex County’s diversity (age, race, gender, ethnicity, income, education, and other elements of identity and experience) to serve as volunteer mediators.

If you are interested in helping your neighbors manage conflict and empowering others to make decisions for themselves, you are a potential mediator!

The process to become a mediator with the Resolution Center includes:

- Complete a Basic Mediation Training that complies with the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) Uniform Rules on Dispute Resolution and meets the requirements for confidentiality as stated in the Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 233, Section 23C. This could be The Resolution Center’s own Basic Mediation Training or any training that meets the same standards.

- Apply to the Resolution Center’s Apprentice Program. We are able to support a limited number of new mediators each year to complete this program, which includes observing at least three mediation sessions and then completing at least 25 hours of co-mediation with experienced mentor mediators, including reflection and evaluation after mediation sessions

- Demonstrate through the Apprenticeship Program full compliance with the principles of community mediation and the standards set by the SJC Uniform Rules on Dispute Resolution

- Agree to be available for mediation on a regular basis (generally at least once every 3 months) and to participate in continuing education to keep skills sharp

Volunteers who complete this process are qualified to mediate Small Claims and many community disputes as members of the Resolution Center’s mediator panel. Some volunteers also pursue advanced training to mediate complex family, juvenile, housing, or re-entry cases.