Becoming A Volunteer Clinic Mediator

In order to fulfill the clinic's mission of providing high quality mediation services at no cost to individuals and businesses in conflict, we rely on well-trained and highly skilled area residents who serve as volunteer mediators. The clinic is committed to maintaining a diverse volunteer pool of mediators.

Training

Individuals who are accepted into the volunteer mediator program are provided 40 hours of mediation training at no cost, including divorce and custody mediation; 10 hours of additional training in which the trainee mediates a minimum of four cases under the supervision of a mediation trainer; and ongoing mediation education throughout their service. Trainees must attend all training sessions that make up the initial 40 hours of training. In return for the training, clinic volunteer mediators must agree to volunteer for at least one year and during that time serve as a mediator in at least two matters a month, and participate in all offered training and continuing education events. 
 

Qualifications After Training

Clinic-trained mediators are qualified to mediate any type of dispute, including court referred child custody disputes. It is the clinic's intention to give our mediators an opportunity to mediate a wide variety of disputes, and become experts in helping people in highly emotional conflict situations communicate effectively, gain new understandings and independently make decisions about how to resolve the conflict.
 

Training Schedule

The clinic schedules training when it determines that the case load and number of active mediators justify training additional mediators. Once that determination is made, all parties who have submitted an application to be trained by the clinic are notified of an orientation session during which the trainer meets with the prospective mediators and we attempt to answer any questions that anyone may have. At the conclusion of the orientation session, we work with those who wish to be trained and are accepted for training in scheduling the basic training sessions, which typically take place over two or three consecutive weekends. 
 

How to Apply

A person interested in becoming a clinic volunteer mediator should complete the application form, and return it in confidence to Ms. Mimi Arcuri by e-mail, fax (570-372-2867), or postal mail addressed to 604 University Avenue, Selinsgrove, PA 17870. Once your application is received, you will be put on the list of people to be notified of the next orientation session.
 

Questions?

Questions can be directed to Allan Sobel at sobel@susqu.edu or 570-372-2784.