Mission
MC3 ensures user and public confidence in the process of mediation by setting standards for mediator training, education, and ethical practice and by developing, implementing and maintaining those standards for mediators. As a nonprofit organization dedicated to the field of mediation and the public it serves, MC3 is a leader in reviewing mediator credentials with regard to all aspects of what the public expects from its professionals. MC3 has set a higher standard of review than other credentialing agencies in mediator education including an ongoing requirement for continuing education as well as a requirement that MC3-Certified Mediators have a basic understanding and familiarity with legal/litigation terminology and courtroom procedures as well as understanding of the ethics that guide mediation practice and policy. All MC3-Certified Mediators complete employment background checks and have agreed to a Quality Assurance program that provides disputants with an opportunity to address any ethical concerns that may have arisen during the course of a mediation.
History
MC3 Mediator Certification, Inc. is a (501)(c)(6) nonprofit organization, incorporated in California in 2015. A shared vision of Southern California Mediation Association (SCMA) Presidents Barbara Brown (2012) and Jack R. Goetz (2018), MC3 first began exploring how to raise professional standards in the field of mediation as an ad hoc committee under SCMA in 2013. Largely influenced by task force reports from the venerable American Bar Association and the Association for Conflict Resolution, and strengthened by support from SCMA and its community, MC3 launched its program in 2019. The idea to certify mediators on professionally based standards utilized by other fields was motivated by repeated legislative attempts to either regulate mediators or modify California mediation confidentiality statutes. MC3 founders believe that quality assurance that consumers rely upon to choose professionals in other fields was generally lacking in mediation until MC3 is launched.
