Contact Information
Janie Chandler-Edmondson
P.O. Box 6234
Kamuela, HI 96743
Phone: (808) 885-5525
E-mail: westhimed001@hawaii.rr.com
Agency Mission Statement:
Our vision is of a peaceful island where differences bring people together and conflict is viewed as an opportunity to create understanding among those with diverse interests.
Founded in 1988, WHMC is a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to help people find peaceful, participatory solutions to the inevitable conflicts that arise in any community. We do this in four main ways: 1) providing mediation services to those in conflict; 2) providing education to youth on the peaceful resolution of conflict; 3) acting as facilitators for group discussions concerning important, potentially conflict inducing issues in the community and 4) training people to act as mediators and facilitators.
Funded Programs:
Mediation: WHMC seeks to continue to provide high quality mediation services to clients in the West Hawaii Community at low or no cost. With continued support for volunteer mediators through the case manager the program will maintain a consistent number of volunteer mediators capable of providing mediation to the community. Through consistent training and support for the mediators WHMC is able to maintain quality assurance standards in mediation. Through the mediation program WHMC can continue to provide low cost or free, quality mediation services through its trained volunteer corps.
Training: Through WHMC training program volunteers will learn the skills necessary to become effective mediators. The program also seeks a continued increase in the number of domestically trained mediators in order to meet community needs. Participants who satisfactorily meet requirements outlined by WHMC will become mediators with the center in order to serve the West Hawaii Community.
Client Outcome Story - Mediation: Amy and Joe were young parents. They loved their son but had a custody disagreement. Joe had no experience with babies and Amy would not allow overnight visitation. They had no money for services. Through mediation they created a workable plan, Amy coached Joe in baby care for several months until Joe was ready to be a full time Dad.
Client Outcome Story - Training: The training program allowed WHMC to quickly provide specialized training for volunteers to meet the community's request for mediation. The program has enabled us to meet the growing requests for mediators trained to assist clients in creating parenting plans and custody agreements in a non-adversarial process. Our volunteer base has increased and allowed the center to serve a larger community.
