Oregon Mediation Center, Inc.

This course considers the extent to which empowerment is ethical and advised in the context of the mediator’s duty to be impartial.  How, if offered, can empowerment be reconciled with the mediator’s duty to be impartial?  Empowerment carried to its logical extreme is “maximization.” Implications of a maximizing model and skills for empowerment and maximization will be reviewed.

Maximization is considered to include 3 primary aspects: 1) assisting participants to individually be at their best; 2) assisting participants as a group to most capably work together; and 3) assisting each participant to achieve the greatest available substantive satisfaction.