ABSTRACT
In considering the question of who or what a community mediator is, there are a number of possible answers. Some people may consider mediation to be an art, others that it is an activity requiring an instinctive ability to do it. Yet others, and we fall into this camp, believe that almost anyone has the potential to become a mediator. What makes a mediator is the set of processes through which a volunteer recognises and learns the skills and attitudes involved in mediation. In this chapter we aim to describe the path that a new volunteer follows to become a community mediator in the UK. The processes we discuss are partly ‘best practice’ as conceived of by MEDIATION UK, and partly the practices as used by the four mediation services that we, the authors of this chapter, have experience of working in and for. We will look in turn at recruitment, selection, training and support.
