Peer Mediators Can Save Lives — Peer Mediation In Schools Is Effective


Peer Mediation

By Steven G. Mehta

Many news stories have tragically addressed the issue of two pre-teenage boys who committed suicide because they were bullied.These stories focus on the child and the things that parents and schools did to avoid the problem.One thing that more schools need to do to avoid such problems of bullying, conflict resolution, and dispute management is the concept of peer mediation.

Peer mediation is a strategy that teaches student mediators strategies to help resolve conflict among their peers. Peer mediation can be instituted at any age in school from early elementary to high school.In peer mediation, students are trained as conflict managers.They learn ways to solve problems and to assist their peers in settling disputes in a way that everyone can live with.Peer mediation helps to keep manyminor incidents from escalating over time into more serious incidents.

One of the advantages of peer mediation, is the fact that in the case of a dispute, the disputing parties’ peers are helping to resolve the dispute instead of a parent or teacher.The students, with the assistance of the peer mediator, learn how they can resolve the dispute themselves in a peaceful fashion.In addition, several social studies have found that children are often influenced by their peers more than their parents.According to Nancy Kaplan, in an article originally published by School Safety, Winter 1996, entitled aStudent mediation: opportunity and challengea teaching students to employ conflict resolution skills produces significant results in decreasing school confrontations and violence.

About the author: Steven G. Mehta is one of California’s premier award-winning attorney mediators thanks to his work in helping resolve disputes in a variety of types of civil litigation. Steve has been successfully mediating complex cases since 1999. He has been repeatedly selected by his peers as a SuperLawyer in the field of mediation and has been selected as one of the aBest Lawyers in Americaa in the field of mediation. His unique ability to understand the human process and the complex emotional issues involved in negotiations enables him to effectively assist the parties in obtaining the best possible results during mediation. Steve is well known and respected as being a fair and neutral mediator who works hard at trying to obtain a favorable resolution for both sides. Lawyers who have worked with Steve have described him as aknowledgeable, patient, and creative,a aoutstanding,a a avery capable mediator,a a amiracle worker,a and as having a afriendly and professional demeanor.a Steve has taught thousands of lawyers and businesspeople to negotiate better. His courses are highly sought after and often sold out. He is the coauthor of the California State Bar’s book Opening a Law Office. Steve specializes in resolving very difficult and emotionally complex or charged cases. He can be reached through his website at www.stevemehta.com.

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/peer-mediators-can-save-lives-peer-mediation-in-schools-is-effective-895209.html