When I tell someone where I work, people often say "wow - that must be so depressing" or "it must be so stressful to be around all that conflict". More often than not, mediation is simply inspiring.
Mediators don't solve people's problems for them, and they rarely offer suggestions. Instead, they walk the parties through a process to ensure that they hear each other, clarify the issues, engage in brainstorming, find solutions that will work for everyone, and create a concrete plan to move forward. The mediation process is the same for working with gang members, addressing a Medicaid benefit dispute, or helping a non-profit board.
Particpants come up with ideas that the mediator would never have thought of. Mediation draws from the strengths, knowledge, and desires of the people involved, and people know more about what will work for themselves than a mediator could ever guess. 90% of all disputes get worked out in just a couple of hours. That's not depressing.
I like this quote about the power of working together to find solutions:
http://mediationblog.blogspot.com/2005/04/mediation-quote-of-week-april-4-2005.html
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