Conflict Management
Mediation is a way to work through a disagreement or conflict between 2 or more people.
This free service provided to individuals and businesses in:
- Fairview
- Gresham
- Troutdale
- Wood Village
- Unincorporated eastern Multnomah County
Prevent Eviction Through Mediation
At times, landlords and tenants may have shared concerns around rent and fees. East County Resolutions can bring people together to work out solutions to these concerns. While we are not a rent assistance program, we can help landlords and tenants work out agreements around the following:
- Tenants may have concerns about how to repay back rent and maintain current housing. You may have fallen on hard times and might be unsure about how to work with your landlord once the moratorium has lifted. Mediation can help facilitate a conversation with your landlord so you can negotiate and work out terms to help you maintain housing.
- Landlords may have concerns around how to get paid for back rent. You may have concerns about how backed up the courts are and how costly evictions can be. Mediation can help facilitate a conversation with your tenant to negotiate terms for getting back on track with rent and fees, helping to bring in income and avoid costly court fees and lengthy legal processes.
Email or call (503) 618-3247 for more information.
Mediation FAQ’s
When you contact East County Resolutions, a trained mediator will talk to you about your situation, your concerns and about others who might be involved.
- As an impartial, neutral party, the mediator will help you understand your interests and your options.
- You may want to work on the resolution yourself, or you may ask the mediator to contact the other party involved to understand their concerns about the situation.
- Often both parties want a facilitated session where they meet to discuss the situation.
- All information shared during mediation is confidential.
The mediation process is facilitated by a trained, impartial mediator, who provides a safe setting for both sides of the issue to be expressed.
- Business and workplace mediation provides tools for solving problems such as consumer complaints and employee disputes
- Elder mediation provides specialized services to help older adults, families and caregivers address situations that surface with aging
- Housing conflicts
- Neighborhood mediation helps neighbors resolve disagreements over common neighbor-to-neighbor issues from property line disputes to noise
- Training in communication and conflict resolution includes classes for the public, mediation professionals, schools and community groups
- Tips for talking though troubles
Free: Mediation is available at no cost to the parties within East County Resolutions service area.
Fair and neutral: Parties have an equal say in the process and decide settlement terms, not the mediator. There is no determination of guilt or innocence in the process.
Time-saving: Often mediation is completed in one meeting. Using East County Resolutions can save parties money by avoiding costly and lengthy litigation.
Confidential: All parties sign a confidentiality agreement. Information disclosed during mediation will not be disclosed to people outside your mediation or the program.
Improves communication and fosters cooperation: Mediation provides a neutral and confidential setting where parties can openly discuss their views on the underlying dispute. Many times the enhanced communication can lead to mutually satisfactory resolutions.
Design your own solution: A neutral third party assists the parties in reaching a voluntary, mutually beneficial resolution. Mediation can resolve many issues important to both parties.
Everyone wins: More than 90% of cases are resolved when both parties participate in East County Resolutions; 98% of respondents expressed satisfaction with our services in a follow-up survey.
Mediación en Español
El proceso de mediación se efectúa usando un mediador imparcial. Esto permite que exista un ambiente propicio para que ambas partes en conflicto manifiesten sus puntos de vista. El mediador ayuda, por una parte, a aclarar la raíz del problema, y por otra parte, ayuda a aclarar malentendidos. De esta forma los vecinos pueden ver las alternativas que tienen para arreglar la situación.
La mediación es una manera exitosa de resolver conflictos pues hay una persona neutral que no está involucrada en la situación. El mediador mantiene la confidencialidad de toda información recibida y ayuda a las personas en conflicto a llegar a una solución justa.
Herramientas
¿Hay algo que le molesta con un vecino?
De vez en cuando todos tenemos dificultades con un vecino. Si estas situaciones no se resuelven, pueden convertirse en graves problemas. Aquí hay algunas sugerencias para ayudarle a solucionar su dificultad.Piense por adelantado antes de reunirse:
- Planee hablar con su vecino, con quien usted tiene el problema. Son ustedes dos quienes necesitan resolver el problema.
- Planee por adelantado, para que tenga tiempo de pensar en el problema y como le afecta a usted. Por ejemplo, el arbusto le molesta porque no puede ver para salir de su estacionamiento con seguridad y teme que va a atropellar a alguien.
- Encuentre una buena hora para hablar con su vecino. Se necesita un tiempo cuando ninguno de los dos tenga prisa por irse al trabajo o cuando no hayan tenido un día pesado.
- Encuentre un lugar cómodo, tal vez sentados en el porche tomando una taza de café.
- Tenga una actitud positiva en cuanto a tratar de encontrar soluciones junto con su vecino. Piense que su problema es como un rompecabezas que los dos pueden resolver. No antagonice a su vecino utilizando lenguaje hostil o echándole la culpa por todo.
Mientras ustedes hablan de su problema:
- Dé información acerca de sus sentimientos en cuanto a la situación y como le afecta a usted. Por ejemplo, “Cuando usted bloquea mi estacio-namiento, me enojo porque no puedo llegar a tiempo al trabajo” es más informativo que decir, “usted bloquea mi estacionamiento sólo para molestarme.”
- Escuche los comentarios de su vecino sobre la situación. Intente aprender como se siente su vecino sobre el caso. Puede ser que usted no esté de acuerdo con todo, pero demuéstrele que usted escucha lo que él dice y aprecia la buena voluntad de hablar del asunto.
- Hable del asunto, difundiendo todos los pro-blemas y emociones al respecto. No omita nin-guna parte que parezca ser demasiado difícil de discutir o demasiado insignificante para ser im-portante. La solución saldrá mejor si todos los puntos en disputa son discutidos detallada-mente.
- Considere posibles opciones para remediar el problema. Esté dispuesto a escuchar las suge-rencias de su vecino. Tal vez se sorprenderán qué creativos pueden ser cuando colaboran juntos para encontrar soluciones.
- Sea claro y específico en cuanto a la solución sobre la cual ustedes puedan estar de acuerdo y puedan cumplir. Por ejemplo, “Dejaré de tocar mi música a la medianoche” es más claro que, “Nunca más tocaré música a todo volumen.”
- Estén de acuerdo de verificar entre ustedes, en momentos específicos, para asegurar que el acuerdo está funcionando y que en realidad están colaborando para cumplirlo.
Esta información esta adaptada del Community Boards of San Francisco.
Mediation Training
East County Resolution’s Basic Mediation Training Course helps people learn the conflict resolution skills necessary to resolve many different problems.
- Being a mediator is rewarding; knowing how to work through issues and conflict is a great skill to have.
- The tools learned in this 48-hour course are useful in work groups, businesses, neighborhoods and families.
- The training includes working with people individually over the phone, and in face-to-face meetings.
People of all ages, ethnicity and backgrounds are welcome. People who are bilingual (Spanish or Russian and English) are encouraged to apply.
Mediation Workshops
East County Resolutions also gives workshops to organizations, neighborhood associations, businesses, church groups and the community on topics such as:
- Communication and conflict resolution
- Styles of conflict resolution
- Brain science and conflict resolution
- Revisiting Red Riding Hood: different perspectives
- Forgiveness: freedom from your past
Negotiation for win-win solutions
There is no cost for local residents to attend workshops. Non-local residents pay $10.
Upcoming Trainings
Conflict Management Training
Basic Mediation Training