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Join us for an engaging online workshop (10am-1:30pmET) where trainees will acquire practical skills for defusing and de-escalating conflicts. Explore the factors that trigger escalation, physical and emotional responses to conflict, and effective strategies for managing intense emotions. Learn how to bring a stabilizing presence to the mediation room and differentiate between anger and rage. Dive into the dynamics of the shame-rage spiral and discover constructive ways to address anger and shame. We will also discuss ways to build trust and rapport, as well as to understand the impact of trauma on individual responses. Through interactive small group activities and roleplays, this event provides practical insights to enhance your conflict resolution skills.  This event is open to mediators as well as other community members who are interested in learning de-escalation strategies.  Registration is free for all volunteers and $60.00 for non-volunteers.  Register HERE.

3 hours of CME/CLE pending.

Join our 90-minute workshop where we’ll delve into the effective use of caucuses during joint session mediations. As mediators, we understand the value of facilitating direct conversations between parties. Utilizing caucuses strategically can be pivotal in navigating negotiations from potential deadlock to resolution. In this session, we’ll focus on practical strategies to optimize caucuses, including improving communication dynamics, addressing concerns, understanding emotions, providing impartial guidance, and reality-checking to aid parties in formulating viable solutions. Our discussion will center on maintaining a non-directive and neutral approach, finding a balance between private discussions and collaborative engagement, and upholding confidentiality while propelling the mediation process forward.

This event will take place ONLINE, over Zoom, and is free to volunteers of community mediation centers, and $30.00 for non-volunteers.  Register HERE.

1.5 hours of CME/CLE Pending

As mediators, we understand that despite our best efforts, impasses can arise during mediation.  Let’s come together to discuss why some mediations reach a standstill and explore a range of tools that can help parties see the conflict from a fresh perspective.

We will start by looking at the three types of impasse – substantive, emotional, and procedural. Then we will discuss practical tools for breaking impasse in the following ways: shifting perspective; looking to the future; encouraging mutuality; externalizing and naming the conflict; exploring the costs of conflict; building momentum; utilizing a caucus; taking breaks; reality-checking; and appropriate mediator input. There will be a combination of lecture, demo videos, small group work, and large group discussions. We will finish by examining hypothetical scenarios as a group. Everyone will get a workbook with examples, reflection prompts, and sample scripts for the various tools we discuss.

This 2-hour interactive workshop will take place on Saturday, November 18 from 10:00am-12:00pmET. It will be free to all volunteers who want to attend!

Location to be determined, but it will be In Person.

CME/CLE Pending.  CME is free to volunteers but CLE is $5/hour.

To sign up, click HERE.

Time to sign up for CMC’s Spring fundraiser—a run/walk to be held at Ijam’s Nature Center in beautiful South Knoxville, Tennessee.  This year, we will reprise our Peace Out 2021 virtual event.  Peace Out 2023 will be in-person and will take place in the heart of Knoxville’s urban wilderness.

Check in begins at 7:30am and the race start-time is 9am.  Run or walk, fast or slow, around Ijam’s beautiful trails and City Greenway.  Participate as an individual, or in a friend/family group.  The cost is $45/person (children 10 and under are free).  In return, you get a t-shirt, a swag bag with vouchers for Fanatic beer (on site, along with KARM Urban Table food truck), PLUS that good feeling of having supported an organization which takes care of our community by mediating hundreds of disputes each year.  Take a look at our amazing sponsors!  Yes, there will be prizes! (And the Urban Table breakfast menu looks delicious.)

If you don’t feel like getting out to exercise, you can donate with the click of a button!    REGISTER OR DONATE HERE.

Food, Fun, Live Music, Door prizes, Ping-Pong Tournament, Silent Auction

Kick off your summer season by joining us in supporting the Community Mediation Center (CMC) and participating in our 2nd Annual Peace Out Event. This year it includes a evening of fun and food with a ping-pong tournament and silent auction.  We have partnered with Fanatic Brewing Company who is hosting this event on Saturday, June 11, 2022, 2735 N Central St.

Tickets can be purchased online for $50 each. 
The money received from each ticket sale will be matched 1:1 by an anonymous donor.

The fun will begin at 4:00 p.m. and last until 8:00 p.m. With each $50.00 ticket purchased on the safe and secure GiveSignUp website, you will receive:

• Two beer tickets for the Fanatic Brewery’s beer of your choice.  Fanatic brews quite a few all natural one-of-a-kind craft beer, including orange shandies and grapefruit radlers.
  Read Fanatic’s story here. Needless to say–but we’ll say it anyway–you must be 21 years old with a valid  government-issued picture ID to partake of alcoholic drinks.  There will be non-alcoholic drinks on hand, too.
• Fabulous food provided by Oakwood BBQ.
• Excellent live entertainment by the amazingly talented Stina Nesbit & Friends (Listen here and here).

Each ticket purchased gives you a opportunities to win door prizes.  Door prizes will be given every half hour starting a 4:30 PM and ending at 7:30PM. You must be present to win.

The Peace Out event benefits Community Mediation Center in Knoxville.  CMC offers mediation services to those  in our community, regardless of ability to pay.  To learn more about CMC and what we do, please explore our website.

And there’s a Ping-Pong Tournament!
There will be a cash prize Ping Pong Tournament (limited spaces available). The entry fee for the Ping Pong Tournament is an additional $20.  If you just want to play ping-pong and can resist the delicious food and drink, you can join the tournament only. The Ping Pong Event will be played as a singles and double elimination tournament.
Yes, ping-pong and table tennis refer to the same game! 

Please check back soon, either here on the CMC website or on the GiveSignUp event page for a list of silent auction items.

We would like to thank our wonderful sponsors for their support of our Community Mediation Center and the 2022 Peace Out Event:

The Law Firm of Breeding, Olinzock, Carter, & Crippen
Forshay Management & Consulting
The Law Office of Heidi Plehn Wegryn
Law Office of Lisa Collins Werner
Redeem and Restore Mediation Group
The Law Firm of Sharp & Attanasio
The Law Firm of Sobieski, Messer, & Elledge

SOCK IT TO 2021 and kick off your spring by joining us in supporting the Community Mediation Center (CMC) by participating in our inaugural Peace Out Virtual 5K Run/Walk AND 15K Bike event.     

The race will take place between April 10th through April 24th 2021.

The “ask” is easy:  Just $35 to join until March, when the registration fee increases to $40. The virtual race event takes place wherever you would like it to take place: at a track, in your neighborhood, on the way to your favorite coffee shop, on the elliptical while watching TV, or on the couch with your feet up. (And yes, there is a way to simply donate using an ottoman and an iPad for those who are recuperative or more contemplative! You still must post pictures.) When you’re finished, post your results in the same place you registered.  We have several prizes in store for those who participate. Dogs and children are free!

• Your net donation will triple thanks to a generous anonymous donor!
• And with each Peace Out registration, the registrant will get to pick out a free pair of Bombas, the best running and walking socks in the universe.  If you register early, you will have your socks by the time the virtual run/walk/bike happens.
• And paying it forward, for every registration, Bombas will send a pair of these wonderful socks to Compassion Closet of East Tennessee to give to adoptive and foster families in our area.

Participants will register, post their results when the running, walking or biking is done, and then check in to see if they’ve won a prize. It’s also where you can send your friends and family to sign up! Please help us spread the word about this virtual race.

This fundraiser is to benefit Community Mediation Center’s local and statewide work. We are remotely mediating cases for our own Knox County Sessions, Juvenile and state Circuit and Chancery courts, as well as helping law enforcement, social service agencies, schools, churches and neighborhoods. In December, CMC was asked by our Tennessee Supreme Court and Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission o serve as a “hub” for the courts in the Eastern Grand Division to assign cases to Rule 31 mediators willing to take on backlogged cases to mediate pro bono, through the Tennessee Supreme Court’s MediateTN ADR Plan. Out of crisis comes opportunity to demonstrate how useful mediation can be to our county, state and municipal courts and the people they serve!

This workshop is free for CMC volunteer mediators and will be held as a Zoom (video) conference.

The workshop is 2 hrs in length and has been approved for 2 hrs of general mediation CME credit.

Please email Jen Comiskey (faculty and host) at cmcjuvct@gmail.com to register.  She will send a link to join the conference.  Ahead of the start time, you will need to download and install the Zoom app on your device or laptop.  Please “test-drive” the audio and video connection on your device before attending the workshop.  Thanks!

Thursday, January 16, 2020: 4PM – 9PM
Friday, January 17, 2020:  4PM – 9PM
Saturday, January 18, 2020: 9AM – 6PM
Thursday January 30, 2020: 4PM – 9PM
Friday, January 31, 2020: 4PM – 9PM
Saturday, February 1, 2020, 9AM – 6PM

We will reserve the following weekend (February 6-8) for make up sessions due to weather-related cancellations.
Family-to Civil Crossover Training (16 hrs) will be included for those who have already received Family Mediation Training. (dates and times TBA).
The training is an approved TSC General Civil Rule 31 training, and is designed for those who have never taken a mediation training.  We will focus on topics such as:

• Conflict resolution concepts
• Negotiation dynamics
• Court process
• Mediation process and techniques
• Communication skills
• Standards of conduct and ethics for Rule 31 Neutrals
• Community resources and referral process
• Cultural and personal background factors
• Attorneys and mediation
• The self-represented party and mediation
• Confidentiality requirements, and any exceptions. as required by law, and
• Rule 31 and procedures and ethical standards
• Forms and protocol for co-mediating in CMC’s Civil Sessions Day-Of-Court Mediation Program, as well as in CMC’s non-court civil programs.

Our training will prepare the student to be a Volunteer Mediator for CMC throughout the coming year.  An important part of the overall training is the opportunity to observe real mediations and then co-mediate with more experienced mediators in our Day-Of-Court Program.  Since 1994, CMC volunteers have been co-mediating in Knox County General Sessions Civil Court for those whose disputes involve landlord-tenant issues, car accident damages, fee for service contracts, sales, repossession of personal property, collection matters, personal and business loans, roommate troubles, family renting from family.

We will co-train with the University of Tennessee College of Law Mediation Clinic at 1505 W. Cumberland Avenue, Knoxville, TN  37916, room location TBA.
Email Jen Comiskey at cmctraining@2mediate.org for more information. Once you have spoken to us and filled out an application, use this link to pay.