Testimonials: Marvin Schwartz
"Marvin was my first mediation trainer and his style continues to be the foundation of my ongoing work as a mediator more than 10 years later. His trainings are of the highest value. I felt both supported and challenged. I learned a tremendous amount in his training and felt immediately prepared to implement the skills I learned moving forward in my mediation practice. His focus on relationships and process supplemented all the outcome oriented mediation books I was reading. Through Marvin's teachings I enter each situation (in my business and in my life) with compassion for everyone involved but also with analytic rigor focused where it needs to be to effect change. Marvin understands at a nuanced level all the complexities of the mediation dynamic with a simplicity that cuts to the heart of how impasses are resolved. Training with Marvin will help you resolve the impasses you come to on your journey as a mediator, helping your clients reach resolution to their conflicts."
Joseph Maurer,
“Marvin’s training is of the highest quality. I felt both supported and challenged. I have learned a tremendous amount and feel prepared to move forward and use these skills. The focus on relationships and process supplements all the outcome oriented mediation books I’ve read perfectly, and the chance to repeatedly practice the skills and get feedback was invaluable.”
“A two-day training on Mediation in the Workplace was the focus of our annual administrative retreat this past August. The training itself was very effective and presented in a manner one might expect from a top notch graduate school. Marvin Schwartz knows his content and knows how to teach for understanding. The effect of the training has been very significant. The number of conflicts that find their way to my office has been cut in half. This is because the administrators have used their mediation skills to solve the problem at the site. Additionally, the entire administrative team is better able to solve problems as a group because we have learned to practice communication skills that encourage cooperation rather than competition. It is my belief that quality mediation training should be a basic component of any educational program that would lead to a school administrator credential.”
“At the time our mediators were trained by Marvin Schwartz, they were in awe of the training and mediation as a process. Now, having facilitated mediation sessions at all levels of UCSF, our mediators have exclaimed how well prepared they are and how much they appreciate Marvin’s training program.”
The UCSF Mediation Program offers a resource to support people in resolving their workplace conflicts. Having a safe, confidential opportunity to talk things through has certainly reduced frustration levels for many who have sought the program’s services. Our Mediation Program mediators have helped UCSF employees resolve conflicts in cases involving a wide variety of issues including, among others, claims of abusive behavior, disparate treatment, cross cultural misunderstandings, perceived physical threats and dissatisfaction with performance evaluations. Our mediation participants have included managers from faculty and administrative ranks, support personnel, research professionals, faculty members and students.
Comments from Mediation Participants:
“I thought you would want to know that the mediation process seems to have had a very positive effect on the lab situation. I think it was extremely worthwhile.”
“I wish to restate how helpful I found your program. [The mediators] were extremely helpful in defining the sources of conflict in my lab, resolving the dispute and preventing further occurrences. We can now get back to our research!”
“Thanks for your support! It definitely helped me stay calm and hold on to the small amount of remaining patience I still had.”
“I’m glad that I had the option to do mediation. I think it gave each of us a little better understanding of what’s going on and hopefully things will be better on the day to day. Again, I appreciate your help with all this.”
“I just wanted to let you know that we’ve completed the mediation. From my perspective it went very well. I was very happy with it. The mediators [were] great, and thanks very much.”
“Please know how much I appreciate your generous gifts of time and expertise in the recent mediation. While confronting the history of miscommunication, misinformation and misunderstanding, was very difficult, the outcome was productive, growth fostering and worth the effort. Bless you.”
Comments from Mediation Participants at the Sierra Club:
“When the Sierra Club established an internal Conflict Resolution Team, Marvin Schwartz’s mediation training provided us a process of resolving conflicts among volunteers working on environmental issues in ways that allowed participants to continue working together.
Our newly trained mediators said this in evaluating Marvin’s training:
‘I feel really benefitted by the training.’
‘The role-plays were very true to life, applicable, and pertinent.’
‘On a rating scale of 1 – 5 (excellent) I’ll give you a 6’
‘Thanks Marvin: you’re a very powerful mediator.’
‘The information was fantastic, and so was the level of detail.’
‘I loved the training. I found it very complete and thought provoking. I would definitely recommend it.’
‘This whole training is excellent.’