Peer Mediation

Schools have increasingly been implementing peer mediation programs as a way to help students find peaceful means for resolving conflicts.  Peer mediation is a process in which students that have been taught a structured, step-by-step model to assist others in peacefully negotiating solutions to their interpersonal conflicts. The Peer Mediation Programs at Landmark Middle School and Sunnymead Middle in Moreno Valley will assist students in dealing with their everyday problems. Students understand and trust their peers. Students often feel more comfortable talking over conflict with peers.

 This program has students who have been trained by the Community Action Partnership Riverside County’s Dispute Resolution Center to help their classmates work out conflict. The main purpose of this program is to reduce conflict and fighting in our school. Conflict is a natural part of people living and working together. Mediation is a peaceful way to stop conflict. Mediation provides schools with an alternative to traditional disciplinary practices. Students involved in this process, either as mediators or disputants, learn a new way of handling conflict. The objective of this program is to provide a safer environment for students to learn in and to assist the disputing parties in reaching a peaceful solution. All mediations are confidential.

Experience has shown that students in the middle school can understand and use skills necessary to manage conflict. Currently there are over 5,000 Peer Mediation Programs in schools in the United States.