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The Community Mediation Center of Bozeman: Ruby’s Story
The Community Mediation Center (CMC), located in Bozeman,
Montana, is committed to fostering honest, respectful dialogue and
collaborative problem solving. For the past 11 years the CMC has
worked with the Justice Court in Gallatin County, providing about 30
professionally trained mediators who rotate Mondays and volunteer
their time to mediate cases that the court assigns. Our Peer
Mediation program began shortly after Columbine and trains incoming
6th graders to mediate disputes (only those that are deemed
appropriate by school officials) with their peers. The local schools
have Peer Mediator Coordinators that supervise the mediations and
they assist with Mentor In-Service Trainings on a regular basis.
Over 100 youth in the area are trained mediators. In addition to
using professional mediators and providing ongoing training for
volunteers, the CMC also trains community members to sit on Youth
Justice Councils. These councils are a diversionary program and
referrals come from Youth Probation. The average youth is 15 years
old and has been cited with a 1st time misdemeanor.
In addition to
the above programs, the CMC has established the Low-Income Family
Mediation Program. The Montana Justice Foundation has funded the
Low-Income Family Mediation Program once again this year. This
program assists many families to develop parenting plans for
children, usually ordered by the courts, which have in mind the best
interests of the children. One such recent case involved a young
woman named Ruby, (names have been changed to protect the clients),
and her ex-husband Stephen. It had been a year since the divorce and
the parenting plan needed to be revised. Ruby thought that she was
ready to face Stephen, (though she hadn’t seen him since the
divorce), and sit down to the table to discuss the parenting plan
revision. Ruby came dressed in her best. Her long hair was nicely
curled and her make-up was just right. But, when she walked into the
CMC office and heard Stephen’s voice in the next room, she began to
sob uncontrollably. Her perfectly applied makeup was soon a mess and
her faced had become beet red as she could not stop crying.
Ruby’s lawyer arrived and she was somewhat comforted by his
reassuring presence, but believed that she could not go through the
door and sit down at the table. The mediators decided that they
would begin the mediation in separate rooms. One mediator talked
with Stephen about what mediation would involve and went over the
Agreement to Mediate. The second mediator shared the same
information with Ruby, all the while handing her Kleenex, and
sitting close to Ruby with a hand on her shoulder. Slowly the sobs
subsided and in time, Ruby went to the bathroom to freshen up and
dry her tears.
Meanwhile, in the mediation room, Stephen’s chair was placed such so
that when Ruby walked through the door Stephen’s back was to her and
she was able to enter the room without having to meet his gaze first
thing. As Ruby stepped through the door into the mediation room, she
took a deep breath and let go of the fear that had initially
paralyzed her. It was a huge step in for her. Although there were a
few more tears, the mediation was able to proceed to a very
successful conclusion. Ruby and Stephen both expressed relief
afterwards in their evaluations and expressed that they both had a
sense of closure and would be able to go forward with their lives
and share in the future of their daughter as her parents.
While not all mediations are as successful, over 85% of the CMC
family cases are concluded with partial or complete agreement. Over
the past year, the program has grown from an average of 25 cases per
year to over 95 cases in this year alone. With the assistance of
donors and funders like the Montana Justice Foundation, CMC has been
able to offer this valuable service and hire part-time staff to work
exclusively with families in crisis.
For additional information about the CMC please visit:
www.cmcmontana.org.
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