Sharon Tracy, Executive Director
Sharon A. Tracy is executive director and co-founder of Quabbin Mediation. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a degree in Legal Studies. Sharon has founded and run several organizations that linked legal resources with community efforts. As a journalist, she wrote and edited several specialty publications and was a development consultant for individuals and organizations. She has been a mediator since 1990 and a mediation and conflict resolution trainer since 1994, teaching adults and young people from kindergarten through college. sharon@quabbinmediation.org
Susan Wallace, Training Director
Susan has been training children and adults in conflict resolution and mediation skills since 1991. Her experience has also included work in the social services field as well as in education. Her education focused on justice studies at Hampshire College and at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. "Conflict resolution and mediation are a synthesis of my work experience, education, and personal experience. The training we do at Quabbin Mediation supports and frames each individual's innate abilities to problem solve and empathize." As the training director, Susan develops, organizes, and provides training and support for conflict resolution and mediation programs in 14 schools and five school districts. susan@quabbinmediation.org
Keely Malone, Lead Trainer
Keely Malone, a life long valley resident, graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a degree in Politics focusing on Complex Organizations. Keely was trained as a mediator in 2006, and spends most of her time training North Quabbin students in conflict resolution and peer mediation. She initiated the Family Communication Facilitation program as a way to respond to the growing concerns of families with court involved teens. Keely is an experienced organizer, working mainly on social and economic justice issues. "Mediation is an active response to the disintegration of communal relationships. It is easy to have conflict with a stranger, but harder once you understand what is going on for the other person. Mediation allows you to hear each other’s stories, see each other as a whole person - that is where you can begin finding solutions.”
John Hallock, Business Manager, Mediation Case Coordinator, and Hadley Court Co-coordinator
John graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in English and received a Masters of Divinity from Andover-Newton Theological School in 1972. He went on to own and run a small business for thirty years. Trained as a mediator in the fall of 2003, he has been mediating regularly ever since. He has had advanced trainings in mediating CHINS cases, in divorce mediation, and in facilitating large group mediations for families involved with Dept. of Social Services (Triage). John joined the Quabbin Mediation staff in August, 2006. john@quabbinmediation.org
Ruth Berrios, Trainer
Ruth Berrios graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in Social Psychology and Mediation. She has years of experience in the military as a Behavioral Science Specialist working in the fields of counseling and child and spouse abuse investigation. Ruth joined Quabbin Mediation in December 2001, mediating small claims and summary process cases in the Ware District Court. Through the United Church of Christ as a conflict transformation facilitator, she works with congregants to create a process for community building and healing. info@quabbinmediation.org
David Gardner, Hadley Court Co-coordinator, On-line Mediation Coordinator
David Gardner, a resident of the Pioneer Valley since 1992, received mediation training from The Mediation and Training Collaborative in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Although David's formal education has mostly been devoted to business management and fine woodworking, he has been an informal scholar of human psychology and world religion for many years. David is a member of the Easthampton Zoning Board of Appeals. Before leaving San Diego for New England, David served as president of the Ocean Beach Childcare Project, a city-subsidized nonprofit program charged with providing affordable childcare to low income residents He finds great satisfaction in his work as a mediator. He can be reached at info@quabbinmediation.org
Volunteer Mediators
In addition to the organization's professional staff, dozens of experienced volunteers help mediate disputes and implement programs. They are a diverse group that includes attorneys, professionals, young people (several of whom began as peer mediators in the schools), and blue and white collar workers. Trained volunteers mediate small claims and landlord-tenant matters at the district courts plus family and youth disputes that are self-referred or referred by attorneys, police, schools, social service agencies, or the courts.
Mediators help people clarify issues, identify common interests, and seek their own solutions while creating agreements that satisfy the needs of everyone involved. The mediation process is flexible, informal, and promotes creative thinking.
Board of Directors
Timothy Anderson
Chief of Police
Athol Police Department
Athol, Mass.
Bonnie Frank-Hume MSW
Coordinator of Social Services
Athol Memorial Hospital
Athol, Mass.
Brian Eno
Chief of Staff to State Representative Denise Andrews.
Sheila Davies MSW
DVA Northampton VA Medical Center
Northampton, Mass.
Deb Habib
Founder and Director
Seeds of Solidarity Education Center
Orange, Mass.
Don Stone
Professor Emeritus from UMass School of Management
Amherst, Mass.
Georgianna Parkin
Director of MA Small Business Development Centers Network
Boston, Mass.
James Trill
Principal
Butterfield Elementary School
Orange, Mass.
Mary G. Klaes,
Attorney and Mediator specializing in Family Law
Sara Currier
Realtor
RE/MAX Hometown Realtors
Tom Darcy
Community Liaison
Athol Royalston School District
Athol, Mass.
Trudy Berkovits MSW
Retired Middle School Guidance Counselor
