Say hello to Amelia Charles, a second-year university student who is working towards her undergraduate degree in psychology. Amelia is also our summer intern! We’ve invited Amelia to write this short piece on her work experiences with us (so far)…
Hello, I am Amelia Charles, a university student working towards a psychology undergraduate degree. I have no history in law or mediation yet I landed my first-ever job at a Law and mediation office working for mediate393 this summer. This would be a fantastic opportunity for me to learn about mediation and a little about the court system, as well as learn about the people that make this kind of work happen.
“What is mediation?” The first thing I questioned on my first day on the job. From my understanding mediation is where a person sits between two people or lawyers that are having am issues and they can’t come to terms on their own. That person that is in mediation will hear both sides out and help them come to a comprise that makes them both happy. Sometimes they can come to a complete deal or part of a deal. When I started here I did not fully understand mediation because I believe that people could do things on their own. After all, we have the ability to reason but I forgot to factor in emotions. In the first week, people like Alisha told me that emotions are a big part of why they are needed. In the sense that humans’ emotions can easily cloud or able to reason with others. For whatever reason a person has to come to court they are met with a lot of emotions like uncertainty, anger, and confusion. A person must be there to help them, guide them through this time, and hear them out. Which is such a simple thing but it goes such a long way. Mediation is made based on the people willing to help other people through a tough time in their life.
“For whatever reason a person has to come to court they are met with a lot of emotions like uncertainty, anger, and confusion. A person must be there to help them, guide them through this time as well as hear
them out. “
Understanding mediation in a few days is not hard, but what I did not understand is why the people that work in this field do what they do. It did not make sense to me why people would want to deal with people when their emotions are at high time. As people could be rude, unable to listen or they could be tough to talk to. I spoke to a few different people about why they do what they do and their answers were all the same. The kids. They do what they do the best they can for the kids. When they are helping the parents work out their issues they do their job well because they think about the kids and what the toll it may have on them. Most of the people that work under mediate393 have a background in social work or law. They have worked with children and have seen firsthand how children become sponges and soak up everything that is happening around them including their parent’s emotions. With the anger they have for each other, the children can sense the tension and change between both parents and it can be harmful to them. They do their job to make a change in a person’s life easier and they can move on with their life. If everything is smooth, children will be able to move on and live a good life. Even if children are not involved they still do what they do as if they are involved. These people still need the best mediation that can be offered to them. Most people do it for the kids as they are the next generation of our world, they can’t help themself, so they need the adults in their lives or the ones that become part of their lives to help them. Hear what the children have to say
Q&A with Ameila Charles
Describe your role or connection with Riverdale.
I am a full-time summer student and my role is a little bit of everything. My job entails showing information officers and mediators in court as well as helping the admin teams with various tasks. Such as working on resources projects and doing outreach to local agencies
Describe your educational background.
I am currently in my second year of university, working towards my undergraduate degree in psychology.
Describe two things you have learned in this role or anything else you would like to say.
There are many things I have learned in this role so far. The first thing I learned so far is that people that work for Mediate393 and Riverdale are the kindest people that I have met. They all genuinely want to help people get through probably the most vulnerable time of their life. The second thing I learned is that there are so many different resources out there for people. When looking at all the different resources there is something for everything. Mediation is more than what it seems.
