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Is spirituality relevant to the practice of mediation and does spiritual development impact on effectiveness?

This presentation seeks to examine these questions through an evaluation of the relationship between a mediator’s spiritual development and his or her effectiveness in practice. Western models of mediation, focussing particularly on the therapeutic approaches, will be reconciled with Western, largely non-theistic spirituality and concepts of spiritual development. In this presentation spirituality will be explored rather than defined.

The construct of spiritual intelligence will be used as a framework for understanding and discussing spiritual development. Therapeutic models have expanded the definition of mediation beyond the settlement-focussed, problem-solving approaches. lt is suggested that these models have merged mediation and therapy. In the result, theories on effectiveness in psychotherapy will be considered and reconciled with spirituality and mediation practice.

The presentation proposes that spiritual development is related to and aligned with self awareness and self development. A fundamental premise of this discussion is that the personal qualities of the mediator are of central importance to effectiveness in practice.

lt will be suggested that a mediator’s spiritual development provides an opportunity to impact the mediation process more effectively; in a meaningful, engaged and potentially transformative way.

The presentation is based on research that is current in the international ADR literature; however there is a paucity of published work on the subject in the Australian literature.

The session will include

• a short spiritual intelligence self-assessment
• discussions in groups about how the mediator’s personal qualities (with a focus on spiritual development) impacted in mediation practice.

lt is hoped that the session will provide a stimulus to shift participants’ understanding of effective mediation practice to a much broader context; beyond specific techniques and skills.
lt is anticipated the presentation will stimulate discussion and subsequent introspection, which will consolidate and personally contextualise the theoretical aspects of the presentation.

Podcast: Listen to Mark talk about this session pre-kon gres (6 mins) >>

In his spare time Mark enjoys attending the theatre and on the rare occasion treading the boards. He likes to keep physically active, when time permits, and particularly enjoys surfing, basketball and weight training. Mark and his fiancée Hui-Yu plan to marry in Hobart in February 2012.