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What is Mediation?
Mediation is a process in which an impartial mediator facilitates productive communication and negotiation by the parties in dispute, and helps them explore options for moving forward. Mediation provides parties the opportunity to define and clarify their issues, understand their different perspectives, identify their interests, explore possible solutions, and work towards reaching mutually satisfactory agreements.
Mediation is...
  • Collaborative  |  You are encouraged to work together with the party you are in dispute with, to reach what you both agree to be the fairest and most viable agreement.
  • Respectful  |  Mediation encourages better listening, communication, and mutual awareness between participants.
  • Future-oriented  |  Mediation provides a beter understanding of the issues that led to the dispute, then focuses on how both parties want to move forward rather than dwelling on the past.
  • Self-determined  |  You determine and craft the solution that works best for you, rather than having a judge or "expert" decide for you.
  • Affordable  |  Mediation usually costs less in money, time, and emotional drain compared to hiring lawyers (and going to court), and saves the toll paid by everyone involved should the conflict continue unresolved.
  • Confidential  |  You are able to keep your private matters private because mediators hold all mediation discussions and agreements in confidence, and cannot be compelled to testify should the matter go before a judge.
  • Satisfying & Durable  |  Based upon having actively resolved the conflict themselves, parties often feel satisfied about the process and the agreement. Personal pride and the likelihood of compliance are generally elevated through mediation.
Mediation is not a determination of who is right and wrong, and the mediator is not a judge, fact-finder, or decision-maker. Mediators do not give legal advice. Choosing to mediate does not preclude you from your right to try other options such as litigation or arbitration.

Mediation Matters
A landlord/tenant mediation success story

A local housing complex, established to provide affordable housing for low-income residents, referred two families to the Eviction Prevention Program.  Both families had been engaged in an extended feud that had resulted in multiple complaints to the management, by all members of both families and by other residents in the complex, as well as to the Providence Police.  Frustrated by its inability to dispel the fighting between the families, the management staff in the housing complex let the families know that they were both facing eviction unless they were willing to work on the issues in a mediated setting.

CMCRI staff then engaged in several weeks of behind the scenes shuttle diplomacy to promote trust in and understanding of the process, to perform intakes, and to get all parties to agree to come to the table. On the day of the mediation the parties refused to look at one another and tensions ran high. Both families had several years of grievances they wished to discuss. The conversation took a turning point, however, when the mediator asked the adults in each family why they were there.  All acknowledged that maintaining the housing situation was important to the economic survival of their families.  With the assistance of the mediator, the parents were able to identify shared frustrations, shared concerns, and common goals.  Common concerns revolved around the stability of their families, the success and safety of their children, and wanting to feel at home in the complex.

After an extended mediation session, the parties identified many solutions for jointly resolving the problem, one of which included putting in a request that the complex management  allow the smaller of the two families to move to an apartment anticipated to be vacant within a month.  The family members also discussed expectations and conduct when they crossed paths both within and outside the complex.  The session concluded with the parties all shaking hands, the tension visibly gone from the group.