Peer Mediation settles disputes

Students are trained to better understand and resolve conflicts

Yosemite High School’s Peer Mediation students gather for a role-playing session. Learning valuable mediation skills are Ariane Holmes, Wes Swiger, Alicia Sanchez, Colin Murchison and Taryn Porter.

Scott Poulsen, Kahlin Woolf, Anthony Posey, Melanie Johnson and Jocelyn Satterfield practice mediation skills that will help fellow students settle disputes.

Students at Yosemite High School (YHS) are now settling their disputes in a peaceful way, thanks to the Peer Mediation program that started last year.

The program is continuing this year with 22 students specifically trained to mediate conflicts between students or, as occurred last year, between a teacher and student.

Seven of the 22 students are returning as peer mediators from last year. They attended a training session at Bass Lake in August to learn how to listen, to communicate and to acquire conflict management skills.

Part of the training included role-playing where the students were able to participate as mediators and as the students in conflict.

Marcia Peterzel, from the Community Boards of San Francisco, an organization in the conflict management field, conducted the training this year as well as last year.

“I enjoyed the role-playing,” says Melanie Johnson, “it gave us a chance to be both the conflict managers and the disputants.”

Also through the role-playing, students learned how to better understand the nature of conflict as well as productive ways to resolve it.

They also practiced “active listening” steps, so that their peers in mediation will know they are being heard.

Knowing how to listen

“The main thing in mediation is really knowing how to listen,” comments Jake Dodderidge, one of the YHS peer mediators.

At the training session the students learned the conflict occurs when there is a clash of ideas, issues and/or feelings. The mediators learned that conflict has a positive aspect to it because it can be a catalyst for constructive change.

Peer mediator Jessica Knotts says she “likes the fact that we don’t solve the problem for them, we just listen to them and have them listen to each other. It’s up to them to come up with a solution.”

Student-to-student

Other mediators, such as Andrzej Zabicki, like the idea that these are students listening to students.

“I think it’s good that no teachers or administrators are involved in the actual mediations,” he said. “Students don’t always want to talk in front of an authority figure.”

Brook Bullock, peer mediator, likes the fact that the mediation sessions are confidential.

“I think it’s important that students know that everything said during mediation is completely confidential ... unless there are serious threats of violence to themselves or somebody else ... or any mention of child abuse ... we would be obligated to report any of those.”

Balance restored

Wes Swiger explains further what they try to accomplish in peer mediation: “During mediation what we try to do is restore the balance. It isn’t about punishment, it’s about accountability.”

Kahlin Woolf adds, “What’s past is past, mediation helps people deal with it and move on.”

The mediators gained information in the training that will help them in their personal lives as well as in their roles as peer mediators.

“I learned not to pre-judge anyone, to be more understanding,” says Chelsea Carnes.

“Conflict is something we’ll have our whole lives, so I think it’s good that we learn how to deal with it,” comments Anthony Posey.

Other peer mediators are: Alex Cano, Mike Dorsey, Cody Dragoo, Ariane Holmes, April Martin, Krystal Montoya and Colin Murchison.

Also, Taryn Porter, Scott Poulsen, Alicia Sanchez, Jocelyn Satterfield, Jake Van Meter and Casey Wolters.

Peer mediators are tenth- through twelfth-grade students at the school.

The nature of things

A spokesman said the nature of the disputes that are taken to the peer mediators can usually be classified as rumors being spread by other students, ex-girlfriend/boyfriend issues, jealousy over flirting with another person’s boyfriend or girlfriend and misunderstandings about non-verbal issues such as “trashing” the property of another student.