The Colorado Council of Mediators has adopted a new name for those mediators meeting its "Recommended Guidelines for Mediator Education and Training."

Effective June, 2004, the Colorado mediators' organization changed the name of Guidelines-qualified members from "Guidelines Member" to "Professional Mediator, CCMO" or "Professional Mediator, Colorado Council of Mediators."

CCMO's governing Board made the change clarify that Colorado alternative dispute professionals undergoing the requisite training and practicum have a professional, as opposed to merely casual, commitment to mediation as a profession.

Colorado CCMO "Guidelines-Qualified" and "Professional" Mediators

As is the case with many, if not most states, Colorado does not have formal certification of mediation practitioners. The Colorado Council of Mediators (CCMO) and the Family Law Section of the Colorado Bar Association developed the so-called Recommended Guidelines for Mediator Education and Training, "to assist consumers, attorneys, judges, and other professionals in selecting" Colorado mediators.

CCMO's Guidelines (and thus, the new Colorado "Professional Mediator" status) require:

• a specified course of mediation training and education;
• a tenure of experience including oversight by an experienced mentor;
• subscription to a recognized code of mediation ethics (see articles by the authors on confidentiality in Colorado divorce mediation, Colorado mediators' ethics codes and Colorado mediation model standards); and,
• active participation in continuing education in mediation process and in substantive areas of practice.

Choosing A Professional Colorado Divorce Mediator

In William Shakespeare's immortal play on star-crossed lovers, Romeo asks "What's in a name?" and observes that "a rose ... by any other name would smell as sweet."

And so it is true with Colorado's divorce mediation profession. In the case of choosing a divorce or family mediator, Colorado couples facing divorce or separation have always been well-advised to insist on practitioners meeting CCMO's Recommended Guidelines. In that regard, nothing has changed, but certainly, the new name of "Colorado professional mediators" is more easily understood and thus a welcome change.