Mid South Mediation Services

Mission Statement

   Mid South Mediation Services offers an alternative to the traditional methods of conflict resolution through the provision of mediation services and training. The non-traditional method of meeting face to face offers a service that is beneficial to victims, offenders and the community. Mediators can also refer clients with other social needs to agencies offering counseling, anger management and drug treatment.

   Victim Offender Reconciliation Programs (VORP) offers a direct encounter between the offender and the victim of a crime in order to make the offenders personally accountable for their actions and to help victims overcome the feeling of powerlessness which the traditional judicial system often has difficulty addressing.

   Mediation is a voluntary conflict resolution process in which the parties work out their resolution agreements with the help of a trained neutral party, the mediator. The mediator does not make a decision, but assists the parties in reaching a mutually satisfactory agreement for appropriate restitution or resolution of the injustice. Mid South Mediation Services provides community and victim offender mediations that involve adults and juveniles from the community. These mediations may be between neighbors, landlord-tenants, local businesses and their clients, families or friends. A distinguishing feature of community justice centers is that well-trained volunteer mediators conduct the mediations. The volunteer mediators offer a myriad of experience to clients. They are members of the active work force or the retired sector and many community agencies. Volunteerism is the key component of community justice mediation and forms the basis for being able to provide mediation services at no charge to the public.

   Training is offered in the area of mediation and conflict resolution to community members and agencies. Funded by a variety of grants and contributions, Mid South Mediation Services provides services to seven counties in middle Tennessee. The program can also give ongoing support to schools in the area by taking direct referrals directly or by aiding in peer mediation program development and training.

   With mediation, there is a realization that those with the most at stake, the victims and the offenders themselves, know best what they need for reconciliation and true accountability to occur. When both the victim and offender agree upon the restitution, and keep the agreements, healing can begin to take place.

VORP Case Criteria

Benefits & Statistics

Board of Directors OFFICERS:
Chair	Joel Kachinsky, Atty 133 T F Summertown, TN 38483 (Lewis)	Secretary	Sherry Zimmerman 515 Mill Ave. Hohenwald, TN 38462	Treasurer	Renita Tenry P.O. Box 374 Hohenwald, TN, 38462 (Lewis)
Vice Chair	Sherry Zimmerman 515 Mill Ave. Hohenwald, TN 38462 (Lewis)	Student Representatives	Tabitha Bough Hohenwald, TN 38462 (Lewis)	Chair of Fund raising Committee	Scarlette Woodall 131 Roth St. Hohenwald, TN 38462