Exploring the role of elder mediation in the prevention of elder abuse : Examen du rôle de la médiation pour les aînés dans la prévention de la maltraitance des aînés : rapport final

Most trained elder mediators and users of mediation services tend to agree that the actual competencies of the elder mediator, with respect to sensitivity and knowledge of aging, including elder abuse and neglect, is crucial to the orchestration of any model of mediation. [...] This is accomplished by building party trust in the mediator and the mediation process; developing conversations that externalize, as opposed to internalize, the conflict; mapping the effects of the — 9 — problem on the person; deconstructing the dominant story lines; and developing shared meanings about the conflict and it’s solutions. [...] In the next stage, deconstructing the conflict-saturated story, the mediator works actively to separate the parties from their perceptions and understandings of the conflict by “undermining the certainties on which the conflict feeds, and inviting the parties to view the plot of the dispute from a different vantage point”. [...] The more mediators understand capacity the more likely it is that they come to understand the crucial importance of the voice of the person at the heart of the conversation to be present in the mediation. [...] According to Soden, the role of the mediator in this solution-based model is one of advocate, facilitator and support for the family and the person served.