Mediation Training

Fall 2008 dates to be announced

Metropolitan Mediation Services offers 36 hour Certificate Programs of Training in Mediation. These trainings satisfy the provisions of the rule 8 guidelines of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Uniform Rules on Dispute Resolution.  CEU credits are available for Social Workers.


Training Overview

Some areas covered by the training include:

  • The dynamics of conflict.
  • Communication skills such as neutral presentation and active listening.
  • Eliciting and transmitting offers and information.
  • Addressing issues of power and power balances.
  • Creating strategies for agreement.

Training methods include:

  • A demonstration of a mediation for trainees to observe.
  • Presentations and discussions about concepts of dispute resolution.
  • Exercises to illustrate and build dispute resolution skills.
  • Eight supervised role play mediations with individual feedback and group debriefings.
  • Large and small group discussions and exercises
  • Individual evaluation of each trainee.

Materials

Participants will receive a comprehensive mediation manual, articles and handouts, and, upon successful completion, a certificate of training.


Cost

$725 tuition includes:

  • 36 hour training leading to a certificate
  • All materials
  • Friday and Saturday breakfasts
  • A non-refundable $100 deposit is due with each application.

Trainees will be accepted on a first come basis.

 

Below: Participating in a large-group exercise
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Below: A mediation role play supervised by a trainer/coach

Below: Certificates being signed by MMS Director and a final group photo.


MMS Trainers

Joan Sokoloff, MLS, LCSW, is the Founder and Director of Metropolitan Mediation Services. She has worked as a mediator in both the public and private sectors since 1986 and currently directs conflict resolution programs in the courts and Boston Public Schools.

Joshua Jacks is Director of Court Programs for M.M.S. He has been a mediator since 1981 and has been training and supervising mediators since 1984. He mediates Medicare beneficiary - provider disputes and also teaches mediation at the Graduate Program in Dispute Resolution at UMass Boston.

Robert Kline, J.D., is a mediator for M.M.S. and a trainer since 1997. He has taught at Northeastern University and Suffolk University Law Schools. He has mediated disputes regarding public housing, landlord-tenant, and small claims court cases.

Douglas Sweet, Ph.D., J.D., supervises MMS court mediators and mediates Eviction and other Civil cases. He also mediates other matters, including Equal Employment Opportunity cases. Before attending law school he worked for thirteen years at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Douglas Thompson is a mediator and facilitator for The Keystone Center. Prior to joining Keystone he worked for many years at the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. In addition, he has mediated in Massachusetts courts, and teaches in the Graduate Program in Dispute Resolution at UMass Boston.

Melissa Verrochi oversees MMS' work in the Juvenile Courts, and works with our school peer mediation programs. She is a former Juvenile Program Director, Trainer, and Supervisor for the for the Harvard Mediation Program.

Additional trainers are practicing mediators, many from university, court, state or federal agency programs.


Dates and Times

Each 36 hour training takes place on two evenings and four full days (Fridays and Saturdays) over a two week period. Trainees must attend all six sessions.  Qualified applicants are accepted on a first come basis until the training fills.

 

Fall 2008

  

Application deadline

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First evening

tba

6:30 to

10:00 PM

First Friday 

and Saturday

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9:00 AM to

5:00 PM

Second evening

tba

6:30 to

10:00 P.M.

Second Friday 

and Saturday

tba

9:00 AM to

5:00 PM

 

Late registration? Call 617-734-3443 ext. 165 to learn if space is available.

 

Location

MMS' Mediation Training Center is located at 
40 Webster Place, Brookline, MA (Click for map)  
(Please note that this is NOT our mailing address)

The Mediation Training Center is in the Brookline Village neighborhood of Brookline, Massachusetts. Brookline is a community immediately adjacent to (actually, almost surrounded by) Boston. Brookline Village is easily accessible by the"D" Green line trolley. There is onsite and street parking. The village is known for its interesting variety of shops and restaurants.

 

 


Registration

A maximum of 24 trainees will be accepted on a first come basis.

Click here for online registration or to be placed on our notification list

or...

For a printable brochure and application, click the link below. It may take a moment  for this document to download, so please be patient.
Brochure and application in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format.
To register by mail, send the form from the brochure along with a non-refundable $100 deposit. Full tuition payment is required by the first day of training.

Return your application with your non-refundable $100 deposit to:

Mediation Training Registration
Metropolitan Mediation Services,
43 Garrison Road
Brookline, MA 02445-4498

Telephone (617) 734-3443 x165
Fax (617) 734-6385

If you have any questions, e-mail to MMS Director Joan Sokoloff or call (617) 734-3443 ext. 165.