ACResolution Magazine

I work for an ADR-focused nonprofit, and have spent the last few years exploring conflict resolution. As a storyteller, editor and reader I’ve also spent a lifetime immersed in story. I’m fortunate to live in Chicago, which has thriving communities for both. By day I am surrounded by mediators, and provide ADR resources to the public. By night I tell true stories to live audiences, or edit fictional stories for publication.

In my mind, the two activities sometimes merge. Perhaps this confluence is not only in my mind. Over the last few years, I have seen many Chicago mediators share their personal stories on stage at “Live Lit” events, and across the country, I’ve encountered even more mediators who are strongly drawn to the art of storytelling. In the excellent book Stories Mediators Tell, seasoned mediators tell the stories of their best-remembered mediations. Programs like the ACR 2014 Annual Conference where I presented as part of the “New Voices” program show our growing fascination with narrative mediation, restorative justice circles, parties living out self-made melodrama and tragedy, and many other story-related topics.

If mediators are often drawn to story, per-
haps that is because stories provide the pulsing
heartbeat of every mediation. While the stories
that play out in mediation are nonfiction, some
conflicts have elements of farce and some of
tragedy. Some family dilemmas may resemble a
soap opera, while a major business dispute may
recall a clash of titans. At the center of every
mediation lies a conflict, and parties pursuing
different goals, who may long for change or for
their lives to stay undisturbed. These elements
– conflict, goals, and the threat or enticement
of change – are also the fundamentals of any
story worth the telling.

In fact, in my experience facilitative mediation closely follows the key points of a powerful story structure that nearly all of us have encountered in one form or another – the Hero’s Journey, as famously discussed by Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces. Campbell maintained that this “monomyth” At its heart, the Hero’s Journey is the story of a person with a goal, who must face challenges and weather changes while in pursuit of that goal. The hero of the monomyth has a need that must be satisfied, which requires stepping out of his or her comfort zone to face challenges and conflict. A similar pattern of conflict, goals, needs and changes lies at the heart of mediation.

The stages of the Hero’s Journey can be defined and labeled in different ways, of which the following simplified breakdown is only one. To make it more concrete, I will apply it to the movie Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), which was deliberately mapped over Campbell’s explanation of the Hero’s Journey.

If mediators are often drawn to story,
perhaps that is because stories provide
the pulsing heartbeat of every mediation.

About the Author

MARY
NOVAK

is a mediator and trainer with the Center for Conflict Resolution, and formerly managed ADR resources for Resolution Systems Institute. She has served on the ACR-Chicago Board of Directors and Programming Committee.