This is to inform our members and subscribers about news of IM. You will find the English translation in italic letters below each paragraph or item.

Editorial

Since the last newsletter (Bulletin 06) in July 2011, much has happened. There have been discussions about the new mediation law, a continuing progress of establishing the DFfM, which is an umbrella organization, there have been new projects and some conferences that we could join. All these activities have become meaningful in regard of the development of mediation. Integrated mediation is a part of that.

Vision

Our Congress “vision of mediation” the 1st and 2nd of October has set the standard. Contentious issues were discussed during a so called “unconference” in a peaceful, constuctive and particularly harmonious way. The World Coffee, which was moderated by Brigitte Komescher and Arno Baltin has paid off. The participants were enthusiastic. A good insight leaves the video that Hubert Merkel had made for us. The common thread was the development of quality standards that we wanted less in the definition of training hours, as seen in the definition of a mediator’s profile. The result will be evaluated and will soon be published on the website.

Exchange

Exchange, inform and shape is the reason why we participate in conferences. There have been many conferences, more than you can handle. We were actively present with contributions and workshops at conferences in Hanover, in Moscow and on Martinique.

  • HannoverAs always, this conference was well stocked thematically and in terms of the expert selection. IM was involved in a forum, which dealt with the legislation. It was astonishing that the Ministry appears to be less restrictive on the subject is approached by the participants of that workshop. If it were up to them, even the mediator’s belong to a professional association should be forced by law, similar to the compulsory membership in the Chamber of Commerce. This might become difficult because the mediation is being seen as a task, which belonging to various chambers and associations. Significantly, the survey of another workshop worked out that 97% of the participants  felt that their colleagues were not trained sufficiently.
  • Moskow
    This was a very impressive event of our member and partner to the scientific center for mediation and law. Many experts from home and abroad, met to discuss the question of implementation of the mediation in Russia. Russia has recently concluded a mediation law.
  • Martinique
    This conference was organized by the CIMJ. This is a worldwide association of judges and mediators concerned with court mediation. It was worth it to participate because it was once again an excellent opportunity to deal with intercultural and international aspects of mediation.

Progress

This concerns the establishment of an umbrealla organization. Emissaries of IM had also participated in various events of DFfM, which is supposed to be one umbrella organization. There have been meetings of the Certification and Quality Committee, and of course the meeting of the Mediation Council. The DFfM is now positioned as far to accredit institutions and organizations that train and certificate Mediators themselves. IM will also be one of them.

Climate

In regard of mediation the mood in Germany is mixed. There are new club start-ups and training opportunities. As it stands, the so called B-associations will converge with each other and eventually merge (speculative). Even the DFfM is seeking a cooperative work. At the moment, self-interests are in the foreground. One is to reformat and re-establish the associations. A unified umbrella organization is still far away. The early plan was – at least by some – to establish a forum where you can exchange ideas. Although the associations claim to be such a forum, they are not. Here we should take a lesson from our colleagues from Latvia. There is now a uniform mediation council, which includes ALL the associations.

Also in terms of legislation, the mood is mixed. There are a lot of disappointment and unfulfilled expectations. The legislature intends to promote the non-judicial mediation. Tt will therefore not allow court internal mediation. So it looks like this is a disservice. The program supports the position of the legal profession. Our member Bernd Bohnet has meticulously followed the law (observation of the legislative process) and commented it step by step.

Initiative

This is of a local meaning. After the activities of the regional group in Munich, Frankfurt, the regional group founded and already attracted attention with two events.

This is of an international meaning. Speaking of Start-Up: In Switzerland, there is now an independent sister organization integrated mediation / Switzerland. We congratulate our colleagues in Switzerland to take this step.

Stars

Stars are the mediator’s degrees given by IM. Now also in Latvia, the training has begun for two star mediator. Although a pledged financial support had failed, our Latvian sister association could offer the course on their own. With 20 participants the course is full. The training follows the IM standards and in accordance with the curriculum of training ZFH. It will last until September 2012.

Scale

It might be given by our EuroNetMed. It is on the way. Together with PAMB, GEMME and IM, we develop standards for training in cross-border mediation. We strive to build a network and establish a central contact point for international and intercultural mediation. Although we had invited all associations to participate, the resonance is very restrained. What might be the reason for that?

Optimization

We steadily try to do so. Our web site has been optimized. The site consists of a BLOG (news) and a CMS (Content Management System) at the same time. The BLOG witll be accessed by the address www.in-mediation.eu. There you will find the latest news. The contributions are assigned to the menu items. Thus you have an actual and logical access to each post.

The English version has been cleaned up and now looks better. I think it more and more becomes worth to sign the newsletter or to visit our page even if you are abroad and not speakimng German. The Latvian-version is still a work in progress. Here we are waiting on the input from our colleagues in Latvia. The English version of the website is started with www.in-mediation.eu/en/.

Information

To provide you to even get more specific information we now have establishes so called FAQs. These are frequently asled questions and answeres to them. Take up this offer and you will help collecting questions and the more you might receive an answer 😉

Video

Because videos are so informative, we now have a Youtube channel. There you will find, for example, the template for a free information meeting on family matters, the video for the Congress and now the video for systemic Consensing.

Perception

What use is it if we offer an excellent education, but no one knows our mediators? That changes now, because we finally have a functioning IM mediator directory. You can now find on our site, every IM mediators. More precisely, they can find them there. Prerequisite course is its registration. The form is only available on the intranet and meets IM members. The special feature of the directory is that you are also enrolled in the largest search portal for Mediators listed. In order to ensure a nationwide presence, we made agreements with finden.de and Accanis that allow our members to be listed for special conditions.

We wish you a nice pre-christmans season. Maybe we’ll meet on www.in-mediation.eu/en/?

Cincerely yours, the IM desk