The RRTP intiative has recently changed its name to HOME- Helping Our Military reEnter. NAFCM hopes to achieve better visibility, memorability, recognition, connection, and identification among the military sector with the name change. Please let us know what you think on our list serve! 

NAFCM is pleased to announce the completion of another round of mediation training for the RRTP Initiative! The trainings were held at from June 2-6 in Columbus, Ohio, in conjunction with the 3^rd Annual Conference of Minority Professionals in Dispute Resolution, hosted by Capital University Law School. 

The introductory and advanced courses were attended by 35 individuals from across the country, and included among them Military Service Personnel, Community Mediators, Chaplains, and professionals from the fields of education, social services, and the Reserves.  Both courses are designed to provide mediation training for individuals interested in helping to resolve deployment-related conflicts experienced by families and communities during these difficult transitions.  

“I came here thinking I was going to be a total observer as a Reservist, and it was so nice to come in and feel so much shared. I’ve learned a thousand things and I just built and built and built for both days; it was wonderful and I’m going way with so much.” 

“Absolutely informative and insightful! The process was very beneficial and relative to [military] life occurrences that will be present in mediation” 

Program Summary

The National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM) is pleased to announce the Reservist Reintegration and Transitions Program (RRTP). The RRTP is a national direct-connect support program which provides conflict resolution solutions for families and service members of the Reserves and National Guard during the deployment cycle. NAFCM is currently piloting the program in Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Vermont and Virginia.

Working together with State and local partners including family assistance programs, veteran service groups, community mediation centers, health professionals, and other supporting agencies, the program supports the re-establishment of healthy communication and decision-making processes for military-service members and their families during these difficult times. With the supporting goals of informing individuals and organizations about these services, building local capacity through mediation training, and complementing existing reintegration services by building a referral network, communities can move forward constructively through their deployment transitions.

Although military families often receive advice on the importance of using healthy communication to resolve transition-related issues, it is NAFCM’s experience that for this particular group, little has been done to teach them how. The RRTP fills this gap by supporting communities in the following ways:

1)    Providing free and professional-level skills training for members of the National Guard and Reserves, Veterans, families, supporting professionals, and other community members, to promote effective decision-making and family-focused solutions during transition;

2)    Creating a referral and resource-sharing network to complement existing family-assistance and veteran service agencies with the tools and information necessary to guide families to and through the mediation process;

3)   Further developing a specialized curriculum on military-civilian transition issues to build community capacity for mediating family and workplace cases;    and,

     4)  Enhancing local protocols to meet unique community needs, as well as   expanding the reach of civilian-military mediation programs into communities        nationwide.