Our mission at the Conflict Resolution Center is to help you become better able to resolve conflicts. We have trainings, educational resources from other sites, and volunteer opportunities for you to master the art of conflict resolution and help others.
Volunteers willing to help mediate conflicts are vital to the success of the Conflict Resolution Center. With their help, neighbors and families find peaceful resolution. The volunteers gain something too, recognizing that phone conciliating and face to face mediating disputes is richly rewarding.
The volunteer primary responsibilities are to help Bellevue residents resolve conflicts. Tasks include: telephone conciliation (coaching, problem solving, arranging a mediation); database entry and other office tasks; conducting face-to-face mediation; facilitating group meetings and assisting with outreach, training and other program projects.
Our desired qualifications include excellent communication skills, commitment to respect exchanges between people, ability to assist people in solving their problems and ability to maintain confidentiality and impartiality. Basic computer skills and completion of extensive, specialized trainings with the Conflict Resolution Center are mandatory. We accept adults only.
Our expectation is that volunteers first apply for a 20 hour conciliation training, conducted annually. If selected, the volunteer would then take a three hour weekly daytime telephone conciliation shift for a minimum of 6 months. Once completed, the volunteer is eligible to take Basic Mediation Training and then enter our practicum to be certified as a mediator. That process can take a minimum of one additional year.
For more details about volunteering, you may contact us at 425-452-4091 or at BCRC@bellevuewa.gov.
Volunteer Trainings
- 24-hr Conciliation Training:
- This free training is a prerequisite to volunteering with our program. As a volunteer conciliator, you will assist callers in understanding their issues, exploring options and developing strategies for problem resolution. In this training, you will learn conflict theory, advanced communication skills, negotiation, coaching, database usage and procedural tools. These skills are useful even if you don’t volunteer.
- This training is typically offered once per year, usually in the fall. If you want to join a list to be informed as soon as our next training is scheduled, please email us at BCRC@bellevuewa.gov.
Volunteer In-service Schedule
- Coffee and Consultation:
- This monthly one-hour chat is an opportunity for volunteers to connect and consult with each other.
- Thursday, 02/10/2022 10-11a.m.: We hope you will join us for our monthly chats to check in, say hi, and discuss any questions or challenges that you are facing. This will also be an opportunity for us to share updates and changes in our eviction prevention work, an ever-changing landscape. SPECIAL NOTE: While we normally hold these chats on the first Thursday of the month, we are scheduling this one for the week after our Conciliation Training, as an opportunity for old and new volunteers to mix and mingle. Contact Natalie Daniels for online access: ndaniels@bellevuewa.gov.
- In-Service Trainings:
- Wednesday, 09/14/2022. 8-10am: Who Does What? A guided discussion of Bellevue resources and infrastructure. Callers come to us with a LOT of questions. We don’t have all the answers, and that’s ok. That’s not our job. However, helping people to become better problem solvers sometimes means helping them to become better researchers, and it can be nice to know a little about how the city works in order to point callers in a useful direction. This panel of experts is excited to share their process for directing people to the right resources both within the city and with community partners. Presented by: Hana Abdulrahman, Emily Chanthaphone. For more information, contact Natalie Daniels at NDaniels@bellevuewa.gov.
- Due to COVID-19, our training schedule is in flux. We will update this page as more information becomes available.
(updated on 07/26/2022)