Learn to help People Resolve Disputes

Course Code -VPS033

Some level of conflict is natural. Parents disagree with children, and children fight in the playground. Employees disagree with their bosses; and sometimes with each other. In sport, home, work and our social lives, disputes arise and someone usually needs to take the initiative to resolve them. If you plan to be that someone, this is a great course for you. 

COURSE CONTENT

Six modules as follows:

1. Conflict Management BPS201
2. Anger Management BPS211
3. Motivation VBS111
4. Relationships and Communication Counselling BPS208
5. Legal Terminology BWR108
6. Ethics BPS217

Why Do Disputes Happen?

Disputes happen when opinions come into conflict.

The expectations of one individual are different to the expectations of another; and there can be many different reasons for that situation.

When both parties have a clear and comprehensive understanding of the issues, mediation and compromise may be relatively straight forward. Goodwill may be needed from both parties, but a solution should be possible if both can appreciate the others viewpoint.

In some circumstances though, it can become very challenging for a mediator to bring one of the parties to a position where they appreciate their opponents viewpoint. This may be due to any of a range of reasons. They may have not have made any effort to understand their opponent.

Perhaps their memory of past events is distorted. It may even be that they suffer a psychological or behavioural disorder which is interfering with any progress toward a dispute resolution
  

Disordered Concentration

Concentration may be regarded as the ability to stay focused whereas attention is the ability to focus on something in particular. Impairments to attention and concentration are noted in many different mental health disorders including depression, anxiety and dementia. Because of their prevalence impairments in these faculties by themselves are not useful diagnostic criteria but they do play a role in determining how people can manage different conditions and how interventions can best be delivered.

Disorders of Memory

There are different categories of memory which can be affected by mental disorders.

• Immediate memory - this is the ability to retain information for several minutes.
• Recent memory - this concerns memories formed over recent days.
• Long term memory - these are remote memories formed over a longer period of time. 

Memory can also be understood in terms of storage:

• Sensory stores - information from the sense which only lasts a split second until processed.
• Working memory - information lasts about 20 seconds whilst being processed or longer if rehearsed. There are both visual and verbal stores 
• Long term memory - these are memories allocated to relatively permanent stores. Information can be processed in minutes (delayed memory), days or weeks (recent memory) or months and years (remote memory). 
  
• Prospective memory - this is memory for future events e.g. remembering to take medication on certain days, at certain times.

Memory also varies in relation to the type of information which is stored:

• Semantic - relating to meaning and factual information.
• Episodic - relating to the experiencing of events.
• Procedural - relating to how to do things e.g. skills learnt like driving a car.
  
  

Types of memory loss include:

• Amnesia - loss of memory.
• Paramnesia - distorted memory.
• Anterograde amnesia - following unconsciousness there is loss of memory for events following the loss of consciousness and subsequent regaining of consciousness i.e. failure to form new memories.
• Retrograde amnesia - following unconsciousness there is loss of memory for events preceding the loss of consciousness and subsequent regaining of consciousness i.e. failure to retrieve old memories.
• Psychogenic amnesia - repression of painful memories.
  
  

When testing memory two types are noted:

• Recall - the ability to retrieve information from memory without prompting. It can be affected by mood.
• Recognition - the ability to recognise objects, words, or other information. 
  
  

There are several forms of disorders of recognition:

• Déjà vu - this is the compelling feeling that an event has happened before even though it is a new experience. 
• Déjà pensé - this refers to experiencing thoughts as though they have already been thought. 
• Déja entendu - this refers to hearing things as thought they have already been heard.
• Jamais vu - this is where the familiar becomes unfamiliar. It is being unable to recognise an event that has previously happened.   
• Confabulation - this is where memories of events that took place at a particular time are reported in relation to other events where they did not take place. It can also refer to recalling events which did not involve the person or filling in gaps in memories. It should be distinguished whether the person is doing it consciously or it is an unconscious act.   
  
  

To Mediate a Dispute Requires Knowledge

A mediator must first understand a dispute; what caused it and if relevant, both the ethical and legal considerations.

They then need to understand not only the methods and procedures to follow in order to solve a dispute; but should also appreciate the psychological state of the parties involved. They need to understand the ways in which they might influence a persons state of mind in order to move them toward a resolution. They also need to recognise the psychological roadblocks that can arise, and appreciate situations where a person's attitude simply cannot be affected.

You will learn about both the methods that may be used and the various factors that will impact upon attitudes and movement toward a final outcome in a range of different types of dispute resolution.