(Stock Photo)
Approximately 30 persons are poised to begin practicums in Court Annexed Mediation over the coming months.
The certified mediators recently underwent a Mediation Refresher Course at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, which was hosted by the Improved Access to Justice in the Caribbean (IMPACT) Project in association with the Supreme Court of Barbados.
Speaking during the opening ceremony, Chief Justice of Barbados, Sir Marston Gibson, said the three-day session would represent an opportunity for skills training.
He explained that the training was conducted by officials from Riverdale Mediation, who also held training sessions with police officers.
“This training is important because what will follow is practicums. Each trainee will be assigned three real cases from the High Court, and three real cases from the Magistrates’ Court,” Sir Marston pointed out, noting these would be supervised by mediator trainers.
He stressed that it was important for mediators to have practical exposure to real cases to put their skills to the test.
The Chief Justice further noted that the collaboration between IMPACT and the Supreme Court of Barbados dated back as far as 2014, when they conducted a sensitisation training programme for clerks.
Areas covered during that programme included: What is Conflict?; What causes conflict to escalate?, and Why it is important for Mediators to Analyse the Sources of Conflict.