Editor’s note: The following is from The Maple Valley Police Neighborhood Watch Newsletter, July 2015 edition.
Having trouble with a neighbor? Are you involved in a small claims suit? Do you have a dispute at your workplace? Did you pay for work that wasn’t completed or didn’t meet your expectations?
While it’s always encouraged to try and resolve an issue on your own if you’re not able to and need help, perhaps a safe mediation process is the answer.
Dispute Resolution Center of King County is a nonprofit organization that has provided affordable mediation and conflict resolution services for individuals, businesses, and families in King County since 1986. The center uses professional mediators from the community who volunteer their time to help solve more than 1,000 disputes a year.
Using volunteer mediators helps keep the cost of providing services low so that more citizens have access to a low-cost resolution process. The center is governed by a volunteer board of directors and managed by a paid staff. The Board of Directors is made up of community members in the fields of mediation, law, education, labor, human resources, marketing, finance, and the judiciary.
The center offers facilitative style, face-to-face mediation at the main office at the historic Good Shepherd Center in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle, or at the satellite location in Federal Way. The center provides free mediation services at all four small claims courts in King County so people can choose mediation instead of litigation on the same day of their small claims trial.
Mediation is a confidential meeting process facilitated by a professional mediator who helps people work together to resolve disagreements and find mutual and satisfying solutions. Mediation is not about deciding who is right or wrong but is a process that helps you communicate the issues, look at the problems from different points of view, think creatively about solutions, and come to agreements that you feel good about and are willing to uphold.
For more information visit; Dispute Resolution Center of King County at http://www.kcdrc.org/.
