After Executive Director Gretchen Lee’s nearly 11 year tenure, Associate Director Nicole “Ned” Droitsch will take the helm of Mountain Mediation in December.
Lee said the timing for the leadership transition made sense.
“I feel like I've had a great run, and I would like to take advantage of the midweek skiing a little bit more,” Lee said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Nov. 12. “And I've got some family commitments back east.”
The local nonprofit handles family, court and community disputes through mediation: a voluntary and confidential process in which a third party helps to settle a conflict. Droitsch said the organization sees as many as 10 claims per week.
As the new leader, Droitsch wants to grow the organization’s services including tenant and landlord resolutions and its “Let’s Talk” dialogue development training.
The group is looking for volunteers who are former or current lawyers.
“We want to make sure that everyone has a voice and everyone has a path forward when they're in a dispute situation,” Droitsch said. “And, you know, we’re hearing it.”
The organization has three staff members and between 15-20 volunteer mediators. To become certified, volunteers must take a 40 hour class and observe mediations for another 10 hours, Droitsch said.
“One of the big things is we try to work past positions. So somebody might come in and say, you know, I deserve, you know, this is my property line, and nobody can tell me anything different,” Droitsch said. “Well, behind that, we have a lot of values that we hold very near and dear in our hearts. My job as a mediator is to understand really what's behind that position statement.”
The group also is hiring a new legal intern.
