Social Justice Mediation Training Session 1.

Gathering Stories Purpose: -Sharing another piece of who we are -Keeping in mind each others humanity and all we bring into a room -Practicing really listening to each other 2. Why Social Justice Mediation? Concepts: -Master Narrative: The dominant culture/societys story of how things are or should be *What other stories are there?* -MULTIpartiality instead of IMpartiality -Collaboration instead of compromise -What does fairness mean? 3. Process of Social Justice Mediation -2 mediators, so hopefully each mediate can see parts of themselves in one/both of them -Introduce the process to both mediates: whats going to happen, confidentiality, expectations -Invite each briefly to tell whats going on -Individual sessions- try to first call in the person who seems to feel less powerful -Move from each person getting their story out to talking about what the other person said and moving towards common ground -When both are ready, have a final group session- reach clear and specific agreement- can write it out if mediatees would like 4. Tips on Doing Social Justice Mediation -Echo back, especially if youre not sure youre clear on what someone meant. -Summarize when a lot has been said and when you reach the end of a session -Ask open-ended questions, like Can you tell me more? How did you feel when that happened? -At the end of an individual session, ask: -if theres anything else the person would like to add -if theres anything that they specifically want you to share with the other person -if theres anything they specifically DONT want you to share -Try not to be afraid of getting off track or of things getting worse it can be important for people to be able to get everything out -Try to let mediatees come to their own agreement so they can have ownership of it