They re learning not only how to talk to each other but how to help others without getting emotionally involved. Garrison says peer mediation programs abound now that federal and state governments are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into school violence prevention. The nonprofit Common Ground Sanctuary also uses the Community Boards peer mediation model at Franklin Elementary School in Pontiac. The program is funded by a grant from the Oakland County Office of Substance Abuse. Troy High s program was modeled after a program by the Cleveland Marshall School of Law in Cleveland and has evolved to meet the school s needs, Bancroft says.
Mediators encourage both parties to tell their stories and to listen to each other.
The opposing parties often come up with their own written agreement, which they then sign, says Yax. Sometimes the agreement is to stay apart. Other times, mediators say, the parties leave seeming like friends. Once I got involved in peer mediation, I realized other kids were having the same problems I was, and problems I hadn t even thought of. You just see everything with so much more of an open mind.