In order to fulfill CCR’s mission of providing high quality mediation services at no cost to individuals in the midst of a dispute, we rely on highly skilled volunteer mediators. Right now, CCR is looking to diversify our volunteer pool and expand the number of volunteers able to mediate in our South Suburban court mediation programs, as well as individuals who are able to mediate in Spanish or Polish.

BENEFITS OF BEING A CCR VOLUNTEER MEDIATOR

CCR mediators have the unique opportunity to mediate a wide variety of cases, work with diverse parties and gain meaningful experience facilitating communication in high conflict, high emotion disputes. We encourage our volunteers to continue to develop their mediation skills by offering a number of additional benefits, including:

• Experienced staff/mediators present at mediation sites to offer support and debriefing opportunities
• Yearly peer reviewed mediations
• Monthly Continuing Education events
• Networking and social events
• CCR newsletter to keep volunteers informed of CCR projects and activities, as well as developments in the dispute resolution field

Please note that parking is discounted and many programs are located near public transportation. To keep mediation services available at no cost to our clients, we are not able to reimburse travel expenses incurred by CCR Volunteer Mediators.

MAINTAINING ACTIVE VOLUNTEER MEDIATOR STATUS

We want our mediators to keep their high skill level when volunteering with us. To do this, we ask them to fulfill the following requirements in order to maintain their active status with CCR:

• The volunteer must schedule to mediate for CCR at least twice a month for a period of 18 months, including one mediation per month at the volunteer’s selected Priority Program (top of pg. 4 of the application)
• The volunteer must participate in CCR’s Peer Review process within the first 6-month period of certification.
• The volunteer must participate in two CCR Continuing Education Programs every 12 months, one of which must be related to cultural competency.

BECOMING A CCR VOLUNTEER MEDIATOR

CCR Volunteer Mediators are trained, mentored and certified using a performance-based evaluation standard. Prospective volunteers must be able to demonstrate a master skill level in the CCR Mediation Model through a simulated mediation session before being approved as a CCR Volunteer Mediator. Interested individuals are required to enroll in CCR’s volunteer training, known as the Mediator Mentorship Program (MMP).

THE MEDIATOR MENTORSHIP PROGRAM (MMP) The MMP is designed to prepare individuals to meet CCR’s strict performance-based evaluation standard and if certified, be able to provide top-quality mediation services in our mediation programs throughout the Chicagoland area. The MMP consists of:

• 4 day Basic Mediation Skills Training
• 1/2 day Orientation
• 1 day Advanced Court Mediation Training
• 3 month mentorship program Enrollment is extremely limited and based on CCR’s current needs.

Enrollment is extremely limited and based on CCR’s current needs. We are not presently accepting applications for volunteers as our current volunteer roster is meeting current mediation client needs. Therefore, we are not offering any available volunteer positions at this time.

The MMP Curriculum The CCR MMP consists of a half day orientation, 5 full days of training, a 3-month mentorship component, and concludes with a certification simulation. The full day trainings incorporate lectures, facilitated discussions, small group exercises, and role-plays to teach the specific skills necessary to master the CCR mediation model. The mentorship component enhances the training experience and supports a prospective volunteer’s understanding of CCR’s mediation model by assigning a mentor to each prospective volunteer. During the mentorship component, prospective volunteers will design a self-directed post-training program, with the support and assistance of a CCR mentor. On average, prospective volunteers spend 5-10 hours a week working on the post-training exercises. CCR provides both required and suggested post-training exercises through our MMP Curriculum. All prospective volunteers must complete a minimum of 10 additional exercises before they can schedule their certification mediation simulation, but may choose to do as many post-training exercises as they would like during the 3-month time period. Mentors are experienced CCR volunteers and trainers who have received special training in teaching the CCR mediation model. A copy of the MMP curriculum is available below.

Download the curriculum – Here

VOLUNTEER CERTIFICATION

The MMP culminates in our certification process. The certification process requires all prospective volunteers to demonstrate a master skill level within the CCR Mediation Model during a simulated mediation setting. Prospective volunteers may schedule a certification simulation once they have completed the MMS program (Orientation Day, the four-day Mediation Skills Training, the Court Adapted Model Mediation Training and the minimum 10 additional exercises). Prospective volunteers must complete the MMP process and schedule their certification simulation no later than 3-months after the conclusion of their basic mediation training.

Completion of the MMP does not guarantee certification as a CCR Volunteer. While CCR will provide the resources to fully support MMP participants in their efforts to become certified as a CCR Volunteer, the performance-based evaluation standard is extremely difficult. All participants in the MMP program will not necessarily be certified.

Who Should Apply?

CCR encourages those who are interested in empowering others to resolve their own conflicts as well as those who would like to give back to their community to apply for the MMP. Here are suggested guidelines to help you determine if you are a good candidate for the MMP:

• Are you available to volunteer in the Markham or Bridgeview Court programs?
• Do you speak Spanish or Polish?
• Can you attend all the training dates listed for your selected program?
• Do you have the time to complete the 3-month post-training mentorship component that will require approximately 5 hours of work each week?
• Is your schedule flexible enough to mediate twice a month during business hours for the next 18 months?
• Do you feel confident that you will not undergo a life transition that might impact your ability to continue volunteering with CCR in the next two years?

Bilingual Mediators Needed: If you are fluent in English and a second language, particularly Spanish and Polish, we would like to meet you!

The Application Process

We are not presently accepting applications for volunteers as our current volunteer roster is meeting current mediation client needs. Therefore, we are not offering any available volunteer positions at this time. As case management needs change, we will announce new volunteer opportunities on the website. We anticipate the earliest announcement looking for potential volunteers to be in early 2011. At that time, we will post the application.

Fees

If enrolled in the MMP, prospective volunteers will be asked to pay a one-time administrative fee of $150 to cover the cost of materials. CCR is investing a significant amount of financial and organizational resources into each volunteer mediator and therefore if an individual is accepted into the MMP and does not complete the training program, or if certified through the MMP and does not fulfill their volunteer commitment to CCR, they may be required to reimburse CCR for the cost of the training that was covered by the MMP ($1300 minus the $150 administrative fee). Completion of the MMP does NOT guarantee certification as a CCR volunteer. All prospective volunteers will conduct an evaluated mediation simulation and must meet our performance-based evaluation criteria before being certified as a CCR volunteer mediator.

Contact

Scott Hinkle
Volunteer Director
Center for Conflict Resolution
11 E. Adams, Suite 500
Chicago, IL 60603

Email: shinkle@ccrchicago.org
312.922.6464 ext 21