Mediation Training | A Social Justice Perspective with Dr. Deepika Marya and Dr. Leah Wing

Weekly Sessions / Twice Per Week / Janauary 20-21, 26-27 & Feberuary 1-2

Trainees will gain strategies to address these challenges while facilitating a process that allows for self-determination about the outcome for the disputing parties. Activities include lecturettes, interactive activities, analyses using (actual) videotaped mediation sessions, skill improvement and roleplays; with a focus on the exploration of concepts and skills application rather than on consciousness-raising or group dynamics analyses.

Participants receive a mediation certificate upon successful completion of the training.

A Social Justice Approach to Mediation

This mediation training was developed in response to a growing body of scholarship revealing that commonly used mediation models and practices do not serve all disputing parties equally despite best intentions. This training undertakes a critical examination of how and why this occurs in mediation and introduces principles and new strategies that works to counter the potential for discriminatory impact. Participants are trained to mediate using a social justice lens that is focused on their own intervention strategies while helping disputing parties reach their own mutually agreeable solutions. The training is open to both previously trained mediators and those without any mediation background.

More than 5000 people have been trained in this approach and it has been utilized by over 100 campuses and organizations in multiple countries. It has been praised for preparing mediators to effectively respond to the realities of conflicts in diverse organizations and communities.

Benefits of participation in Mediation Training from a Social Justice Perspective

The training offers participants:

• A basic mediation training with social justice principles and strategies infused throughout each step of the process
• Advanced mediation practice
• Frameworks for understanding how identity and institutional practices can impact mediation processes and lead to the unintended privileging of some parties
• A certification of completion of mediation training

About the Training & Trainers

Further information about the Social Justice Mediation Institute and training can be found at http://www.sjmediation.org/

Deepika Marya, Ph.D.

Deepika teaches in the Commonwealth Honors College at University of Massachusetts Amherst (USA). She has been teaching in higher education in the United States for over two decades. A dispute resolution trainer since 1997, Deepika introduced critical theory to the field of mediation and integrates conflict resolution theory with multicultural approaches to conflict. She has trained at dozens of public and private educational institutions and organizations and provides consultation services for the development and implementation of peer mediation programs. She is co-trainer at the Social Justice Mediation Institute.

Leah Wing, Ed.D.

Leah is a member of the Legal Studies Program faculty at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (USA) where her research and teaching address inequality and dispute resolution. Since 1985, Leah has been a mediator and trainer for educational institutions, government agencies, and non-profits. She served on the Association of Conflict Resolution Board of Directors (2002-6), is on the editorial boards of Conflict Resolution Quarterly and The International Journal of Online Dispute Resolution, is Director of the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution, and is founder and co-trainer at the Social Justice Mediation Institute.

Training Logistics

• The training logistics, application process, and hosting is being done by CURB.
• The training will be held on Zoom from 9:30-1:00pm AT and 3:00-5:30 pm AT on January 20-21, 26-27 and February 1-2, 2023.
• Attendance at all sessions is required for certification and successful completion.
• There will be a maximum of 28 participants, plus the host and trainers.
• The cost will be $650 per person.
• A commitment not to record the training is required.