July 2023 Newsletter

Wednesday, July 12, 2023 - 4:00pm

July 2023 Newsletter

Fifty years ago this week - on July 10, 1973 - our community celebrated the official opening of the Center for Dispute Settlement office in Rochester.

Over the next five decades, the work at the Center has continued to grow and evolve to meet the changing demands of our communities and world.

As we celebrate this milestone, we are reflecting on our future - What will the next 50 years of conflict resolution look like?

In a 2021 article, The Future of Conflict Prevention, researcher Katariina Mustasilta writes about three trends that are contributing to major escalations of conflict in today's world:

1) Climate change which is increasing stress on communities around the world

2) Digital technologies that provide new means to suppress dissent and polarize conflicts

3) Fragmentation of authority which challenges existing models of managing conflicts.

Mustasilta offers three strategic pathways to mitigate these challenges:

1) Strengthening the capacity of local groups to support communities in crises

2) Deploying digital strategies for peacemaking

3) Local coalition building to organize multi-lateral responses to threats

As we look to the next 50 years of our work and beyond, we will increasingly need each other - all of us working together - as we build these strategic pathways to peacemaking.

What do you see as the future of peacemaking? What do you see as the Center's role? How do you want to be a part of it?

In peace,

Shira May

President/CEO

P.S. - You can find our 2022-2023 Annual Report at the bottom of our About page on our website. Learn how we are making a difference in our communities and in our changing world: https://www.cdsadr.org/?q=about

50th Anniversary Gala

August 10, 2023

6:00-8:00pm

Holiday Inn, Rochester

Click to Purchase Tickets

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Payment can be made on our website: https://www.cdsadr.org/?q=pay-my-bill

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Center for Dispute Settlement

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Rochester, NY 14614-1813

ATTN: Gala Program

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July is National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month

Submitted by Michelle Mitchell, Program Manager, Yates County

National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month is observed each July to bring awareness to the unique struggles that racial and ethnic minority communities face regarding mental illness in the United States.

In addition to the stigma of mental health issues and structural barriers that affect access to mental health care, many members of marginalized communities have historically faced discrimination or trauma that impacts their mental health.

Access may be in limited in many ways including but not limited to:

● Availability of providers

● Affordability of services or access to health insurance

● Finding a provider that understands their experiences

● Mobility, work schedules and lack of childcare

● Awareness of resources

As a community, we must work to remove some of these barriers to reduce the stigma of mental health for BIPOC populations and increase access to quality services for everyone.

Fact sheet from Resources to Recovery.org:

https://www.rtor.org/bipoc-mental-health-equity-fact-sheet/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw7uSkBhDGARIsAMCZNJtnj-U65nhGWU8zJf4VnI4_KfKSB27mfp6P8UOeXZAGEYYZWfb_KL0aAodgEALw_wcB

Volunteer of the Month

Mary Ellen Babbitt

Date certified: 2022

About Mary Ellen: Mary Ellen has been a certified mediator for just over a year and she has jumped into her volunteer activities with both feet! She learns as much as she can from debriefings after mediation sessions and asks staff and other mediators lots of questions. In striving to be the best mediator she can be, she actively participates in our regular in-services and other training. Mary Ellen recently became a certified Divorce Mediator and she takes on divorce mediations in both Ontario and Yates Counties. She is also a certified restorative justice (RJ) facilitator and started right in facilitating RJ workshops for Hillside and will be helping in the Canandaigua schools. We are so glad she has found a home with us!

What is something you want people to know: Mary Ellen collects teacups and teapots

Restorative Justice:

A Path to Healing from Sexual Harm

Healing from sexual harm is a lifelong journey. Restorative Justice (RJ) is an approach that can offer people who have been impacted an opportunity for truth telling, restoration, and repair, as they navigate this very personal journey of healing.

In partnership with the Unified Court System's 7th and 8th Judicial Districts, the Center is offering a Restorative Justice (RJ) program for NYS Child Victims Act (CVA) and Adult Survivors Act (ASA) cases.

This program is an opportunity for individuals to participate in a process designed to support healing, empowerment, dialogue, and repair for the harm that was caused.

Restorative Justice is a confidential, voluntary, trauma-informed process that has been defined as “an approach to achieving justice that involves, to the extent possible, those who have a stake in a specific offense or harm, to collectively identify and address harms, needs, and obligations, in order to heal and put things as right as possible” (Howard Zehr, 2015).

Restorative Justice facilitators in this program come from the Center for Dispute Settlement, as well as our partner agencies, the M.K. Gandhi Institute and Partners in Restorative Initiatives. All facilitators have completed a training program through Hidden Water, which specializes in a Restorative Justice approach to healing from the harm of child sexual abuse.

Through a restorative justice process, all parties will have an opportunity to meet separately with trained, experienced, Restorative Justice facilitators, who will gather information about what happened, who was impacted, and what needs to happen to repair the harm. The intake process will also assess each party’s readiness to engage in a dialogue process and refer parties to other resources as needed.

If parties are ready to engage in a dialogue process, the facilitators will schedule one or more structured meetings using a Circle process. Circles are a form of conversation that encourage truth-telling, empowerment, and plans for restitution, and may result in a written agreement or accountability plan. Accountability can take a variety of forms, including monetary compensation, apology statements, trainings, mental health services, community service, and any other actions that are agreed upon by the parties.

Through a restorative justice process, all parties – those who were harmed, those who caused harm, and members of the community who were indirectly affected – have the opportunity to receive support on their journey of healing and personal transformation.

Contact:

7th Judicial District, ADR Coordinator Amy DiFranco: adifranc@nycourts.gov

8th Judicial District, ADR Coordinator Audrey Herman: arherman@nycourts.gov