Meet the NAFCM Board - Diane Featherstone

"Meet the NAFCM Board" is a series of guest blog posts designed to introduce you to those shaping the agenda and direction of our field.  We invite you to welcome new Board members and reconnect with our returning leadership by leaving a comment below.

Thank you members for having faith in my ability to serve your interests as a member of the NAFCM Board of Directors. I look forward to talking with you, learning with you, and supporting the power of community mediation centers with you. Together we can “be the light at the end of the tunnel” for members of our communities. The Board of Directors for the Dispute Resolution Center of Montgomery County (DRC) is very supportive of this appointment and look forward to hearing all the great things NAFCM will be doing to make a difference.

Our local DRC has been supporting the citizens of Montgomery County (and surrounding counties) Texas are 23 years. Our county commissioners, judges and attorneys have been active participants in the success of this program. In 2010 we opened over 1,200 cases…these cases were mediated by volunteers (many have over 10 years of dedication) with an average 86% settlement rate. Our “mediators rock”!!!!

As a “very active” member of the NAFCM Board of Directors I look forward to extending skills I have gained over a lifetime, gathering more skills from a wealth of knowledge amongst the members, and collaborating to share the value of community mediation centers. It will also be great to work with Justin and other members to expand the clearinghouse resource tool.

Diane Featherstone

Executive Director
Dispute Resolution Center of Montgomery County

How Do We Help Thee? Let Us Count the Ways...

"Mediation sounds good for others, but it just won't work in my situation."

"The other side is too [insert: crazy, unreasonable, unstable, untrustworthy, unwilling, ...] to participate." 

Sound familiar?

Community mediation program staff members and volunteer mediators hear these responses from potential service recipients every day. In fact, convincing the parties that mediation may be helpful is oftentimes the most difficult (self-imposed) hurdle to a constructive resolution than any which may arising during the actual mediation itself. Part of this hesitance and uncertainty stems from the parties' unfamiliarity with mediation generally and its storied application in their context specifically. 

To help increase public awareness of how community mediation can help, NAFCM is compiling stories of how these services have previously helped similarly conflicted residents move beyond conflict and get back to their lives. Over the next several months, we will be contacting programs throughout the country to hear their stories and add them to an extensive list of applications for which community mediation can help.

Working with us on this project is Sheryl Ellis, a soon-to-be Master's recipient and NAFCM's newest project-based intern.  Sheryl's work will help those in conflict to connect with both the conceptual potential and the community programs able to make a difference. Here's what Sheryl has to say about her interests and energies: 

"I am excited about the opportunity to volunteer for NAFCM! I look forward to meeting other individuals in the organization throughout the United States. I am graduating in May with my Master’s in Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. During school, I completed Internships with American Airlines and North Texas Food Bank. I am currently an active member of ACR, Conflict Resolution Network, and Mediators Beyond Borders. My background is in Human Resources Consulting specializing in Employee Relations with my Human Resources Certification, California PHR Certification and my California Accident Life and Health License. One of the reasons that I am volunteering for NAFCM is to learn more about Community Mediation and how NAFCM assists communities in resolving issues. Professionally, I am interested in providing mediation, training and conflict coaching."

We look forward to supporting Sheryl as she connects with programs throughout the country and collects compelling stories of the many ways in which community mediation programs help those in conflict. If you would like to share your example of how community mediation can help, complete this short online form. 

In community,

Justin R. Corbett

Executive Director, NAFCM

Meet the NAFCM Board - Jim Lingl

"Meet the NAFCM Board" is a series of guest blog posts designed to introduce you to those shaping the agenda and direction of our field.  We invite you to welcome new Board members and reconnect with our returning leadership by leaving a comment below.

When I first became involved with the Ventura Center for Dispute Settlement in 1992, community mediation was an almost unknown but handy ancillary process in which problems too big to ignore but too small for the courts could be sent for resolution. Over the years as the success of mediation became more widely recognized, community mediation centers became more widely recognized and accepted, and the centers themselves began more aggressive outreach as they ‘marketed’ their services. Those centers developed a range of specialized programs tailored to the needs of their neighborhoods and communities, and entered into partnerships with social and governmental agencies. In different places the centers were handling landlord-tenant problems; age, race and gender based conflicts; homeowner association disputes, etc., all in addition to the historical neighborhood annoyances that had been the bread and butter of community mediation in earlier decades.

Today much has changed even as much has stayed the same. In an era of declining federal, state and local governmental budgets, and an increasingly complex and astoundingly expensive judicial system, more and more people are turning to their local community mediation centers as their ‘top of mind’ resource seeking an ever widening range of services to deal with an ever expanding range of conflicts.

Through collaboration, cooperation and shared experience, our community of neighborhood mediation centers have the ability to meet the challenges of the coming decade. We know what we have done individually; let’s share that knowledge and assist one another to develop a network of service providers which are self-sustaining, self-supporting, and so deeply ingrained in the psyche of the people that we can fulfill the hopes of the community mediation pioneers. Community mediation is on the verge of becoming THE future avenue for “access to justice” for most of our constituents. We need to make sure we receive value for our services from those who can afford it, so that we can continue to provide no cost and low cost services for those who cannot. And NAFCM is the big tent that we can all come into as we share and prepare for the demands that will be confronting us in the years to come.

In community,

Jim Lingl

Board Member

Ventura Center for Dispute Settlement

Thousand Oaks, CA

ABA Dispute Resolution Conference Recap - Day 2

The second full day of general sessions is now a wrap at the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution's Spring Conference. What a day it was! From complexity theory to therapeutic dogs, I'm flying away with some interesting experiences and truly out-of-the-box thoughts. I'm also leaving with some new and renewed connections with colleagues involved in or supportive of community mediation.

Here's the community mediation recap for day two. Share your thoughts and respond to the questions by submitting a comment!

Topic: Engaging Conflict Before It Matures - Using Deliberative Dialogue to Assist Communities and Members of the Armed Services Bridge their Differing Cultures

Question: What is your community doing to help service members re-integrate into civilian life following deployment(s)?  Is there a way your program may be able to plug-in to and supplement these efforts?

Question: Could multi-stakeholder community dialogues focusing on the challenges facing re-integrating service members help bridge the military-civilian cultural divide? 

Resource: NAFCM & the ACR Community Section's co-hosted teleseminar on Mediating Military Personnel-Involved Conflicts.

Resource: Learn about NAFCM's previous work supporting the re-integration of reservist service members.

Topic: Conflict Resolution and Creativity as Emergent Characteristics of Weak-Tie Networks and Small Worlds

Question: How many community dispute resolution centers are engaged in conflict prevention work, and what (beyond training) are they doing on this front?

Question: What is the right mix of conflict prevention, conflict engagement, and conflict resolution services?  Is there a "right" or "optimal" mix of these services for the entire field, or is it inherently contextually/community-based?

Resource: The Werner Institute for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution

Topic: Stories Mediators Tell

Question: Do you share your mediator stories?  If so, with whom (mediation program staff, fellow volunteers, others)?

Question: Would there be value in NAFCM creating a new repository of community mediation stories and/or outcomes?  Could we do such a thing and ensure confidentiality?

Resource: Medley of Mediation Stories created from participants of the NAFCM and VOMA listserves.

Resource: How would you categorize your favorite community mediation story? Love fest, horror novel, heart-warming, pure comedy, something else? Share your favorite story headline!

Finally, there were dozens of hallway conversations that kept the ideas flowing and connections strong.  In between sessions I was able to further the community mediation connection with JAMS Foundation's dedicated staff, Mediate.com's tech marvels, the nation's foreclosure mediation guru, court ADR resource and research powerhouses, and folks from CADRE, the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine's Straus Institute, Creighton's Werner Institute, and many other brilliant and wonderful colleagues.

One specific conversation leaving me both smiling and scratching my head was with a mediator who uses trained, therapy dogs to ease tensions that arise during mediations. She said these dogs are trained to walk toward those expressing anger and calmly place their heads upon the laps of those whose anger is rising. "Who can stay mad when there's a cute dog calmly sitting by your side," she asked. Good point! Made me wonder if these pups were simply more advanced versions of koosh balls many mediation programs keep table-side to ease table tensions.  Also had me scratching my head about whether such purposeful use of service animals by the mediator may run afoul of any standards or ethical guides. While allergies may be at risk, confidentiality, it's safe to assume, wouldn't be jeopardized!

Throughout the conference we were also providing micro-updates and interesting links on our Twitter account.  Don't miss a quip!  Follow us as we head to other conferences and continue our exciting work.  

If yesterday's overview and today's recap have you feeling you missed out, be sure to mark your calendar for next year's 14th Annual Spring Conference in Washington D.C. on April 18-21, 2012. We'll reach out and work with the Section to find ways we can make next year's conference an even better, more accessible event for community mediation folks, especially those near our nation's capital.

Enjoy the weekend!

In community,

Justin R. Corbett

Executive Director, NAFCM

ABA Dispute Resolution Conference Recap - Day 1

The American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution's 13th Annual Spring Conference is in full swing here in Denver! With the first full day of regular sessions down, I'm here to report the community mediation angle and share our thoughts on the latest topics entering the collective conversations. Feel free to use the comment feature to provide feedback or answer some of the questions below.

Basic Setup: The community mediation crowd tends to be comparably smaller at ABA conferences than at other national gatherings, such as the Association for Conflict Resolution's Annual Conference. Still, for those able to swing it, there's plenty of good sessions that address community mediation-related topics. This year, you can find several restorative justice, research, ethics, and emerging practice areas that'll inspire your program and whet your apetite for continuing education.

Who's Who: NAFCM is here to help keep community mediation on the broader ADR agenda. Luckily, we have several colleagues joining us in those efforts. Tim Hedeen and Debora Brownyard are at least two of NAFCM's Board Elders making the rounds. Representatives from numerous community mediation programs are also engaged in the session shuffle, including Brad Heckman and crew from Safe Horizon (soon to be the New York Peace Institute come July), Tobi Inlender and staff from the Center for Civil Mediation, Community Service Programs, and likely several others. There's also strong community mediation supporters here, such as the JAMS Foundation, Resolution Systems Institute (RSI), MACRO, and Mediators Beyond Borders, to name a few.

Here are some of the topics I've heard and provocative questions I'm now asking of community mediation:

Topic: Conflict, Retribution, & Spiritual Traditions. 

Question: Are (self-) interest-based approaches toward conflict resolution truly universally applicable?

Question: Should community mediation programs develop specialized services to provide non-neutral neutrals for those clients' whose cultural or religious norms expect vested third-parties?

Resources: Hawaiian Ho'oponopono, Balinese Hindu Banjars, Japanese Zen, Arabic Sulhas

Topic: Manipulation and Coercion in Mediation - Strategy or Sin?

Question: If coercion happens in the mind of the coerced, what innocuously intended mediator actions might be interpreted by one or more party as being coercive?

Question: Where do you draw the line? Should community mediators suggest solutions, pressure parties, suppose non-settlement outcomes, or engage in other similar actions to get the mediation 'resolved'?  

Resource: Database of Mediator Ethics Opinions (not necessarily community-focused, but still good)

Topic: Accessing Justice through Mediation. 

Question: How does community mediation fit within the larger concept of social justice?

Question: How integrated with traditional legal systems should the community mediation field be, given concerns over potential co-optation and the (at least perceived) 'legalizing' of community mediation services? Is there a bright line beyond which we must resist integration...even if it would seem to provide greater access to justice? 

Resource: Accessing Justice through Mediation - Pathways for Poor and Low-Income Disputants

Topic: Helping At-Risk Families Help Themselves

Question: How many community mediation programs partner with child welfare and the family court system?

Question: What creative uses of our conflict engagement skills can we envision for disputes involving foster placement, child/social worker, and related systemic conflicts?

Topic: The Mediation Post-Mortem - A Model for Enhancing Mediation Learning and Practice

Question: Are there micro or meta conflict patterns we see in community mediation but haven't systemically addressed?  (As a field, community mediation mediates thousands of conflicts each year and hears tens of thousands of 'conflict stories'.  Though each is intimately personal for the participants, are there larger  trends we're failing to acknowledge?  Given confidentiality issues, how could we even know?) 

Question: Personally, do community mediators do enough self-reflection (or "intervision," as the Austrian's call it) to continually improve their capacity to help?  Programmatically, should we build in more formal opportunities to engage in such reflection?  

Closing out the day's session was the Mediation Plenary, at the beginning of which the Conflict Resolution Center in Minneapolis was recognized for it's video: The Power of Mediation.  This video won first prize in the Section's Second Annual Mediation Video Contest on YouTube! Unable to attend the conference personally, Karmit Bulman, Executive Director of CRC, asked that I receive the award on her behalf.  I did so with the following sentiment:

I am very pleased and honored to accept this award on behalf of the Conflict Resolution Center, which serves the broader Minneapolis region. CRC’s video, The Power of Mediation, is an exceptional example of what we do as mediators, why we do it, and, indeed, the great potential our entire field represents for those caught in harmful conflicts. 

Each year, this conference convenes practitioners from all corners of our field.  The Conflict Resolution Center’s corner is community mediation, a sector composed of roughly 400 community mediation programs serving tens of thousands of neighbors, family members, and many others each year.  CRC’s specific work in Minneapolis is of exceptional quality and solidly represents our field to those with whom it interacts, partners, and serves.  It’s now award-winning video as you’ve seen, is, of comparable quality and representation for all of us. 

Thank you for recognizing the Conflict Resolution Center and its video The Power of Mediation.  Thank you to the ABA’s Section of Dispute Resolution for choosing CRC’s video to sit atop its broad public platform.  And thank you to each of you for all you do to help those in conflict.

I'm looking forward to the second full day of events!  I'll post a recap for Friday's developments, as well.

In community,

Justin R. Corbett

Executive Director, NAFCM

Meet the NAFCM Board - S. Gabrielle Frey

"Meet the NAFCM Board" is a series of guest blog posts designed to introduce you to those shaping the agenda and direction of our field.  We invite you to welcome new Board members and reconnect with our returning leadership by leaving a comment below.

Greetings All!

Ok, this is my first ‘blog’ posting and I’m going off to deep thoughts with Gabrielle. When Justin asked us (the newly elected board members – and thank you very much for your votes and belief that I will be a solid representative of the NAFCM membership!), to provide something to be shared with the NAFCM blog community, I was perplexed as to what I might say that will resonate with my peers.

My only blog exposure thus far is my brother’s poetry and haiku blog which features linguistic wonders and thought provoking vignettes, neither of which is my strength.

I am excited to become involved with NAFCM and my fellow conflict resolution gurus, as I work to grow my business in the Denver metro area. I opened Resolution Works (A Community Mediation and Restorative Justice Agency) July 1, 2008, as the phoenix rising from two Community Mediation centers that both closed their doors June 30, 2008, both having begun offering services in the early 1990’s.

I have such wonderful support from my board (comprised of people from the founding agencies, people working in mediation and restorative justice, and passionate individuals manifesting change), my community – the justice system, the schools, and citizens who have participated in our services, and local education systems including the Community College system and large universities.

Wherever I go I find a yearning for tools to understand conflict and a desire to be adept at resolving discord. Each conversation is a learning opportunity for me and reinvigorates my need to become better, stronger, and more adept at being present in the moment and experiencing what might be happening. To bear witness to the journey in which we all are occupants – and in which conflict is the only constant.

Each day I believe that I have improved, and then I am challenged and humbled by the beauty of conversation; the subtlety of body language and the delicate nature of the human spirit. Each evening I wonder what the next moon cycle will bring, and how I will face the challenge.

Looking forward to learning from and with all of you as we grow our profession and plant seeds of resolution with all whom we meet.

Wishing you well,

Gabrielle

S. Gabrielle Frey

Resolution Works – Executive Director

18th Judicial District – Colorado (Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln Counties)

NAFCM Celebrates National Volunteer Week

Community Mediation Runs on Volunteers!

Volunteer mediators serve on their communities' front lines of conflict. They supplement the work of our field's dedicated professional administrators, assist neighbors and family members with all manner of disputes, and lead by their daily, personal example of how to constructively engage differences.

Given all they do for their communities and our movement of over 400 U.S. community mediation programs, its fitting to formally recognize and appreciate their contributions. That is why NAFCM is celebrating National Volunteer Week (April 10-16) and encouraging you to do the same!

This year's slogan: "Celebrating People in Action" is a wonderful reminder to acknowledge those who do so much in so many varied ways. Community mediation volunteers donate countless hours in case development, mediation settings, and on follow-up activities. For those programs tracking these hours for financial reporting, the value of volunteers' donated time can quickly add up. (Two recognized resources for valuing volunteers' time come from Independent Sector: $21.36/hour and the Department of Labor's Occupational Employment Statistics for mediators: $25.37/hour.)    

Beyond the critical volunteer mediator role, community dispute resolution programs also utilize volunteers for administrative, clerical, training, and many other capacities. Without these generous gifts, many programs would be unable to meet their communities' needs or even maintain sustainability.  

Recognizing this fact, we encourage all community mediation programs to explore this handy Resource Guide full of ideas on how to promote your recognition of volunteers. We also invite you to post a comment to tell us how you recognize your volunteers, either this week or other times throughout the year.

Get creative, be genuine, and celebrate your own people in action today!

In community,

Justin R. Corbett

Executive Director, NAFCM

Restoring the Restorative Justice Conversation

Re-Enlivening & Restoring

the 

Restorative Justice Conversation!

Today we are pleased to announce a collaborative partnership with VOMA: the Victim Offender Mediation Association, to reinvigorate the rich conversations within the restorative justice community.

NAFCM and VOMA are now co-hosting the new Restorative Practices Discussion Group.  This new group is designed to connect like-minded practitioners, share resources, aggregate collected wisdom, and advance the restorative justice conversation.  We encourage those working in restorative-focused programs to explore this interactive discussion group (listserve) and lend their voices to the collegial and collaborative conversations it will now house.

VOMA's extensive history supporting restorative practitioners and programs both in the U.S. and abroad has uniquely qualified them to co-host this substantive, wide-ranging discussion group. By specializing in victim-offender mediations, conferencing, circles, and related restorative justice processes, VOMA's institutional and field knowledge will serve to elevate the Restorative Practices Discussion Group into a leading forum for professionals the world round.

Further strengthening the foundations of this new group has been the energetic participation of VOMA's Board and administrative representatives: Barbara Raye, Duane Ruth-Heffelbower, and Sheryl Wilson, each of whom supremely represent the ideals and professional dedication of VOMA and the broader restorative justice field.  Sheryl has graciously agreed to share of her wisdom and time by serving as VOMA's official representative, inspiring and moderating, along with NAFCM, the exciting conversation housed in this new discussion group.

We are excited to be working so closely with VOMA on this new resource.  NAFCM and VOMA's respective programs work side-by-side, our members are often one-and-the-same, our philosophical and practical objectives are closely aligned, and our passions to help those in conflict are beautifully in sync.  Beginning today, through the Restorative Practices Discussion Group, we now also share a common platform to convene and support restorative programs and practitioners. 

We invite you to learn more about this new group, as well as NAFCM's many other topical and geographic-focused listserves.  Take a moment to learn how to join the community's newest conversation and begin reconnecting and restoring our important voice!

In community,

Justin R. Corbett

Executive Director, NAFCM

Website Wednesdays - Discussion Groups

Each Wednesday (or as close thereto as our schedule allows) we will highlight a particular feature of NAFCM's website worthy of your review. By highlighting specific components of our website, we're hopeful you'll become better equipped to take full advantage of all the resources we've packed into our mighty site. Once you've checked out this week's feature, we invite you to continue clicking and discover even more!

This week's "Website Wednesday" feature: Discussion Groups

[NEW: Join the Conversation in Four Easy Steps!]

For over a decade, NAFCM has hosted the national community mediation conversation on our listserve.  We've had thousands of voices join the often lively e-chorus which readily shares resources, support, and wisdom with colleagues throughout the field.  Today, the list has over 700 individuals representing all aspects of community-based conflict-assistive services.  It's hands down the best, most broadly focused listserve for those seeking to engage the community mediation conversation.

Today, we're pleased to announce some exciting new changes to how you and the community connect.

ENHANCED EXCHANGES

First, we're moving NAFCM's listserve to a new, more robust platform.  Our current listserve is limited in how participants can engage content and how managers can customize the overall experience.  NAFCM's new listserve platform, hosted by Google Groups, is a feature-rich platform that combines traditional listserve functions with the interactivity of an online meeting space. Using this new system, you will retain the convenient direct-to-inbox messaging you've come to enjoy, and gain more easily customized message delivery preferences, informative participant profiles, accessible conversation histories, and many other features.  The of breadth of these new features will help ensure our community's conversations not only continue, but flourish!  

DIRECT DIALOGUE

As our e-dialogue expands with the latest technologies, we're pleased to announce yet another exciting addition.  NAFCM is now hosting a wide range of discussion groups.  From topical focuses, such as Transformative Mediation and Restorative Practices, to targeted geographic groups such as our new state-level lists, you can now join the specific conversations of greatest interest to you!  Using the same accessible Google Groups platform as our national list, you can now easily connect with colleagues across the state, around a topic, or along professional roles. These new focused lists are great places to connect with your closest colleagues, support counterparts, share local resources and training announcements, and advance your specific corner of the field.  With over 60 targeted discussion groups already open and more on the way, you can find your niche and get connected today!

CUSTOM CONVERSATIONS

Finally, we are pleased to offer the ability to create your own custom discussion group.  Using our simple online form, you can begin working with us to create and hold your own tailored e-space. Connect your program's volunteer mediators to your own custom listserve.  Create an online working group to advance a new service area.  Or propose a new topical area to expand our conversational horizons ever onward.  Whatever your focus, we'll work directly with you - providing the platform from which you can create new communities.


How you Benefit:

• Get Up-to-Speed & Stay Up-to-Date.  As colleagues' and your own interests and roles change over time, these new community conversations will be continually archived to ensure new participants can get quickly caught up on group history, interests, and priorities.  This is especially important for custom lists connecting your state's Executive Directors or other groups with regularly changing memberships.
• Engage How & What You Want.  Using NAFCM's new discussion platform, you can customize your experience to satisfy your specific preferences.  Choose to receive all messages immediately or in a convenient email digest format, or keep your inbox free by reading group messages directly online.  In addition to delivery preferences, you can choose to engage only the specific conversations in which you're most interested.
• Access Collected Wisdom...All of It.  Discover what's been shared before, easily restart and update conversations, and find exactly what you're looking for.  Archives of each group's members-only discussion archives are indexed by Google's powerful search engines, allowing you to access the collected wisdom of our field no matter when it was shared or when you joined.

Ready to Start? Join the Conversation in Four Easy Steps!

We're thrilled to offer so many exciting outlets to further connect our field.  Enjoy the conversation!

In community,
Justin R. Corbett
Executive Director, NAFCM

Partnering to Advance the Transformative Dialogue

We are pleased to announce a collaborative project between NAFCM and the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation (ISCT).  Over the past month, we have been working to create a convenient, online platform to advance both the agenda and dialogue surrounding transformative mediation.

Today, we are thrilled to unveil the "Transformative Practitioners & Centers" discussion Group!  This Group, co-hosted by both NAFCM and ISCT, is built upon NAFCM's private Google Groups portal, which functions as both a traditional list serve and an interactive online meeting space.  This platform will provide convenient access to those community mediators and program administrators interested in deepening their knowledge of and commitment to transformative approaches toward conflicts.  

To ensure the highest quality dialogue and latest developments are regularly covered, ISCT has tapped two of their brightest representatives to serve as the Group's managers.  Judith A. Saul and Jody Miller have committed to leading this exciting online exchange.  They will use this new Group to entreat substantive dialogue, foster the exchange and growth of participants' wisdom, and empower those advancing along their transformative path.  

Judith is currently a Certified Transformative Mediator™, a Fellow, and member of the ISCT's Board of Directors.  She previously founded the Community Dispute Resolution Center, Inc. in Ithaca, NY where she served as its Executive Director for 25 years.  Jody is also a Certified Transformative Mediator™and Fellow of ISCT.  She is the current Executive Director of the Mediation Center of Dutchess County in Poughkeepsie, New York.  You can read more about Judith and Jody, including their impressive backgrounds and deep commitment to transformative mediation on the ISCT's website.

This collaborative project reflects the strong, long-standing support NAFCM has demonstrated toward the transformative framework.  We firmly recognize the value of transformative mediation, which is largely viewed as a more holistic and responsive approach toward mediation than alternative models/frameworks/philosophies.  NAFCM works to support the numerous community mediation programs across the country that have adopted transformative mediation as their preferred or exclusive practice.  During 2007 and 2008, we trained 35 individuals representing several community mediation programs throughout the country in transformative practices as part of the Helping Our Military reEnter (H.O.M.E.) program.  Today, through this discussion Group, we continue our support of transformative mediation and those community mediation programs which are interested in or are currently espousing its tenants.   

We look forward to having many of you join us in the rich dialogue occurring within the Transformative Practitioners & Centers discussion Group.  We also graciously thank ISCT, Judith, and Jody for their continued support of community mediation and for working to make this collaboration possible.

In community,

Justin R. Corbett

Executive Director, NAFCM