DAVID B. RIVER , a native New Mexican, is the only mediator in New Mexico to be Certified as an Advanced Practitioner of Mediation by the national Association for Conflict Resolution. Winner of the New Mexico Mediation Association’s Steven Sprague Award 2007, he has been a full-time mediator, trainer and facilitator since 1995 in a wide variety of situations, and has over 1500 hours of face-to-face mediation experience.

David has provided facilitation, training and mediation services for the Federal Shared Neutrals Program, Environmental Protection Agency, Divorce Mediation Training Associates, the New Mexico Center for Dispute Resolution, various businesses and non-profit agencies, personnel and students in the Santa Fe Public School System, and several Native American communities. Previously, he directed a court-connected mediation program with the New Mexico Center for Dispute Resolution (NMCDR) where he was the assistant director of a statewide conflict resolution education program. In all, he has trained over one hundred mediators, including attorneys, therapists and educators. He is a frequent speaker on mediation, and has spoken at the Santa Fe Community College, the College of Santa Fe, the Divorce Center and various other professional and community groups.

David graduated from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota with a degree in Peace Studies and is currently completing a Masters Degree in Dispute Resolution with the University of Massachusetts. His current research is discovering pitfalls and benefits of divorce mediation from couples who used mediation for their divorce.

Prior to forming River Mediation Services in Santa Fe, David was a mediator at Diane Neumann & Associates in Boston, Massachusetts - one of the largest and most well known divorce mediation firms in the country. He was also a partner in JustPeace Systems Design, which provided consultation and training for non-profit organizations and school systems including the Chicago Public Schools.

Currently, David is a Coordinator for the Santa Fe Coordinated Community Response Council, a Certification Committee member for the New Mexico Mediation Association (NMMA), and an advisory board member of the Santa Fe Rape Crisis and Trauma Treatment Center. In addition, he is a member of the national Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) and the Massachusetts Council on Family Mediation (MCFM). David is a designated Certified Senior Advisor (CSA)™, a member of the Society of Cerified Senior Advisors and of the Senior Resource Alliance.

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