Thursday, February 16, 2012
Week 2/13-19: Managing Others’ Disputes through Mediation: Part 3
My boyfriend’s father, Bob (for the sake of privacy this is an alias name), is a family psychologist in Vancouver, Washington, and acts as a liaison between other psychologists during a business’s high stress situation (i.e. bank robbery, major lay-off). He is also the first point of contact, west of the Mississippi, if there is ever a terrorist attack or plane crash in the United States. He has told us many of the situations he has been in and incidents he has been able to help lessen the stress while the authorities solve a problem. He has used many of the mediation steps to do so, but in a role of a psychologist. The bank seeks his expertise, he brings the victims together, he makes a statement regarding the situation at hand, as a group or individually the victims find a common ground to resolve the problem mentally, Bob writes a report, and ends the session.
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Wow, it sounds like “Bob” has a fascinating job. I imagine he must be someone who is very good at keeping his cool since it seems he is constantly working under high pressure situations. It is also pretty surreal that he is the first point of contact, west of the Mississippi in the case of a terrorist attack or plane crash. It sounds as if “Bob” is an expert in the field of mediation and knowing how to do so effectively as not everyone is fit to have a job that requires so much responsibility. What a rewarding career to be the individual people choose to rely on during times of need.
ReplyDeleteComm Rocker, your post was so interesting to me. Bob is a perfect example of how the concepts learned within the Communication major can be applied to life. As a graduating senior, I am sometimes worried about how my major will help me with a career, or how certain classes will lead me to be successful. This post about Bob’s job just gave me a bit of encouragement and reassurance. Not only could this conflict management class build personal skills for each of us, but we can use those skills toward bigger and more important things. Mediation and all types of communication play a big part in both everyday life and extreme circumstances.
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