back after awhile and work updates

[Zoe Girl]

Hi all, if you remember me it has been awhile. I am reading the updates from others and excited to hear some good news from others.

I am still in the before and after school care and enrichment field. I had a great summer camp that was eco-focused and I even got survey data from. The huge stress is that I need to now run increased programming on lesser budgets (last year we had no budget due to district issues in the financial department, we apparently overspent). I am adjusting from being managed in a way where I had no choices in many areas like the lesson plan format and now I can and have to take authority to make a financially sustainable program in creative ways. Outside the box is something I have always thought I was good at, but I am feeling very challenged so far when I realize this needs to be financially successful. I have not had good luck with my great ideas actually working out. One of my greatest adult education classes was a total bust but worked at another school.

On a side note I took the professional training course to be a mediator back in May. My goal is to do educational mediation in some form, as part of a job preferably since independent mediators are almost never full time. Or I could do this as side work with a lot of building up a business. Next month however I get to go to training so that I can volunteer as a mediator in a local county and get the hours I need to develop skills. I joke that one of my skills is not making things worse, basically getting in conflicts and not making it worse. Mediation can really use that skill.

How are you all?

[Tradd]

I was just thinking of you the other day - when I was in Target, no less! ;)

Glad to hear you're doing well.

[Selah]

Same with me, Zoe Girl..I was just thinking about you! Glad to see you back and great to catch up on your news!

[razz]

Glad to hear the update and know that you are doing well.

[rodeosweetheart]

Hi Zoe Girl--so glad you are back! The mediation training sounds intriguing--I have looked into it and would love to hear more about it--how long did it take, and how can you apply the training to the county situation?

I think it is a great field to get into.

[Zoe Girl]

I talked to man who runs a mediation service before I did the training so I felt I had some idea of what I was getting into. That did help. Through reading I found that almost no one is a professional full time mediator which also helped me with my expectations. I know there are many judges and lawyers who also do mediation since we had that a few times during my divorce and further legal issues. So check that out pretty clearly before you go in to make sure your expectations match up and it is a good fit. I took the training class hoping to do some side income work and to focus on educational mediation so I could bring my masters in education in and get a competitive edge there.

The training in Colorado is standard 40 hours. I kept asking the training company if they would do an evening or weekend one since I cannot take a week off work to do this training. So they did! And back in May I did 2 back to back weekends training. It was really a great program, shop around if you want to do training. Now I just need a lot of practice. The professional standard is 100 hours of observed mediation, co-mediation and solo mediations. The court system locally will take volunteer mediators which is the best way to build up those hours. So this will be in addition to my job but a side way to increase skills since there are factors in education that are stopping my progress. I started to try and make contacts in my district so i can work this into my overall skill set with them and moving job-wise. There are also a couple lawyers in town who specialize in educational law and that is another avenue (as long as i stay in public service for my loan program).

I will let you know how much I like sitting in the middle of conflict when I get going.

[rodeosweetheart]

Thank you so much--this is really helpful. I looked into this last fall a bit and saw the 40 hours, and I will need to look carefully into where I can do this--I think this is a great thing !

[SteveinMN]

Double post.