Mediation as Pedagogy: In Favor of a Conversational Model of Mediation Process

As someone who has been a student of mediation for over 35 years, I believe that mediation, as an option for those experiencing conflict they can not manage successfully without help, is a good thing. But in recent years I have come to feel that mediation could fill an even more critically important role if it could at the same time do a better job of teaching people how to manage and resolve their conflicts themselves. The traditional approach to mediation is that it is an alternative method of dispute resolution that empowers disputants by letting them resolve their own disputes rather than handing decision-making authority over to someone else. However, this model of mediation, as ADR, reminds me of the difference between helping someone by giving them a fish for dinner, rather than giving them a fishing rod. While the fish feeds them for one night, the fishing rod enables them to fish for themselves and procure many dinners in the future. Mediation to resolve a specific conflict is the gift of the fish, while a process of mediation designed to teach people to manage and resolve conflict through direct interaction with each other is the gift of the fishing rod.