Experiencing conflict at work? Are you having a difficult time working with a colleague? Are you having trouble communicating in your professional life? Are you feeling frustrated, vulnerable? Is a working relationship breaking down? Are you avoiding interacting with a colleague? Are you feeling uncomfortable to resolve an issue without support?
As terrible as these situations sound, if you answered yes, you are probably not alone. Sometimes intelligent, articulate, sensitive, and caring professionals find themselves in circumstances that are both surprising and desperate. They feel devastated when they are unable to find a way out of the difficulties.
The STA Mediation Service may be able to help.
The STA Mediation Service is a voluntary and confidential service provided to STA members to mediate challenges between colleagues and coworkers.
If you would like, download a Mediation brochure for yourself or a colleague.
Mediation is a carefully designed process that brings (usually 2) people together in conversations, with mediators present, to help them explore the conflict situation and move to resolution.
This service is available to any Surrey Teachers’ Association member who needs to resolve a dispute with another staff member who is willing to participate in the mediation process.
The mediation team is a voluntary, diverse group of your colleagues trained in mediation skills and dispute resolution processes. Where a dispute involves STA and CUPE members a joint team will facilitate the mediation.
For more information about the service, please phone the Professional Support Services Officer at 604-592-8396. If mediation is the appropriate service, the Professional Support Services Officer will assist in coordinating mediators and dates.
All proceedings and information shared during the process are strictly confidential between the participants and the mediators. Any notes taken by the mediators during the discussions are shredded upon completion of the process. The mediators report only if there is full resolution, partial or no resolution. The participants are also expected to respect the confidentiality of the proceedings including the time leading up to the mediation.
Conversations with the Professional Support Services Officer leading up to the request for mediation and coordinating mediation are confidential. For the purposes of the individual interviews, the provisions of the Code of Ethics are set aside so that each person’s perspective can be clearly presented to the mediators. Names can be used during the confidential individual interviews.
The mandate can be found in the STA Policy and Procedures 2.E. Peer Mediation
For more information about the service, please contact the Professional Support Services officer, Kevin Amboe at services@surreyteachers.org or call the STA office at (604) 594-5353.