The Mental Health Safe Project has been collecting resources so parties will be able to know their rights in mediation, and seek help if they experience misconduct. This can help any parties, and we also have specialized resources for parties who have psychiatric disabilities and may have concerns about disparate treatment.
A. Mediation Bill of Rights for VA Mediations
This Mediation Bill of Rights document helps parties know about their rights and how to spot potential mediator misconduct. It is derived from the Standards Of Ethics And Professional Responsibility For Certified Mediators adopted by the Judicial Council of Virginia.
B. Deciding to Complain About Misconduct
This website (www.mhsafe.org/vacomplaints) will provided a chart summarizing the complaint practices at each Virginia mediation organization based on the content they provided, along with an overview of considerations someone might have related to deciding whether it is worth it for them to complain and whether they want to pursue other options. One of the options is to anonymously share your concerns with MH Safe, or to do so identifiably.
C. Resources to Help Mediators Prevent Misconduct
In the course of developing this page, some staff asked for assistance in managing misconduct. We are therefore pointing people to the following resources:
BiasResistantCourts.org is a project of the CUNY Dispute Resolution Center and MH Mediate, made possible with funding from the American Arbitration Association – International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA-ICDR) Foundation. The website provides twelve one-page skills sheets to help mediators practice in trauma-informed, bias-resistant ways including avoiding misconduct, planning responses for challenging behaviors, providing accessibility options, practicing self-care, and responding to complaints.
Pre-Session Preparation to Prevent Inadvertent Misconduct is a set of checklists of resources to help ensure mediators operationalize their duties to provide informed choices, prevent bias, and practice competently. These lists were created in 2023 in response to John Lande’s call for resources to support his Real Practice Systems project that helps mediators engage in reflective practice about their unique way of mediating.
One center inquired about receiving training. Any mediator or center interested in additional training can contact training@mhsafe.org to make your request.