This special issue on the Insight Approach to Conflict and Mediation is special for many reasons.
It is special because with this issue we celebrate 10 years of steady work and the publication of 20 issues aiming to professionalize mediation. 10 years that my fellow director, Monica Rodríguez-Sedano, and I never believed would come true when the project kicked off. In fact, we wondered: «Will we be able to publish issue number 2?» And we did. Indeed, we were fortunate to produce a special issue on Transformative Mediation with unpublished before articles in Spanish by the model’s authors and leading figures: Folger, Bush, Pope, Antes and Della Noce.
And now, with issue 20, after 10 years of work, we are fortunate to have the chance to publish a complete issue on a model that has been little known to date by mediators in the Spanish speaking world, even if has gain momentum and strength in the English speaking world: Insight Mediation Approach. One of the main goals of Revista de Mediación from the onset has been to provide mediation practitioners with the innovations that occur in the field. And the Insight Model is undoubtedly one of the most interesting contributions of last years.
For that, we needed to rely on someone who would be as excited as we were about the project. Salvador Garrido, an author who is always interesting and open to novelty, who had already published with us, gave us an idea. It was in August 2016 when Salvador, knowing that I was living in Washington D.C. at the time, spoke to me about someone who would become later a Special Guest Editor for this issue, Megan Price.
Roughly a year ago we reached out to Megan, one of the leading figures of the model and a colleague of George Mason University where I, thanks to Sara Cobb, had the chance to be present as Affiliate Scholar. And Megan, who is as special or even more than this issue, came excitedly onboard. Over many coffees and during several working sessions with her I came to know the model more in depth, and we were able to shape this issue together. We wanted new papers, for it was the first time a complete issue was going to be published both in Spanish and in English, something that makes this issue also special; we also thought that English speaking readers would be interested in new texts. This meant we needed to involve all of the authors and ask them to come up with new articles. Would they accept it?
I have to admit that I was doubtful the creator of the model, Cheryl Picard, would want to join us. At the end of the day, a Spanish journal could seem to her something from far away. But it was not the case. Cheryl was thrilled from the get-go. She is not a diva at all. She offered me proximity, enthusiasm, illusion and the promise to welcome me and discover Prince Edward Island in Canada where she recently moved. She offers the readers of Revista de Mediación an article that is a witness to her generosity: she tells us her secrets, she talks about what works, she gives us hints and opens the door to a very special approach. She could have stopped after giving us the basics, but she didn’t. In fact, her paper is three times longer than the requirements Revista de Mediación has for articles to be published, but having the model author herself giving us over 12,000 words was so special that we could not help and decided to not comply with our own criteria. It is a gift we will always be thankful for.
Also special is to have onboard this project, and also very excited about it, Jamie Price, whose contributions to the Insight Approach, even beyond mediation, and his proposals of an Insight Loop or the «Patterned Flow of Consciousness» are a turning point of our understanding the questions that are appropriate to elicit a conflict and to transform it. Following on the same line, Megan’s contribution in her article, talking in depth about cognitive biases is also a real gift for us.
Marnie Jull’s contributions were also a very special gift. She leads us into practice, discourse analysis, good actions and questions, and she gives us many practical keys by explaining an intervention in a real case.
In order to get a consistent issue, all of these articles have been followed-up and authors pursued by Megan Price to make sure deadlines were respected, quality assured, and papers enrich each other. Without Megan in her role of Guest Editor this would have not been possible; her endeavor was incredible. Megan, thanks a lot.
We had, in fact, a very special issue. We were missing, however, a key figure for this issue to be viable in both languages; but fortunately Revista de Mediación has had this figure since our first publication 10 years ago, someone who has accompanied us all this time: our translator and associate editor, Marcelo Rodríguez Rivollier. He has been following all the papers and took care of their translation into English and Spanish so that today more readers are able to know about and deepen the Insight Approach. Once again, thank you very much. For everything.
For Germán Rodríguez-Sedano, graphic and layout designer of Revista de Mediación since the first issue, and for Ana Isabel García Colmenarejo, Associate Director and rigorous reviser of the APA criteria, this has been extra work, and we will always be thankful for this.
Now it is up to readers to own this model and work for the model to become a reality in the day-to-day work of mediation and conflict resolution practitioners. It is up to readers to evaluate whether the efforts were worthwhile. However, I honestly doubt they would think otherwise. Lastly, it is up to readers to enjoy each one of these pages we give to them with love and enthusiasm. It is, undoubtedly, a very special issue.
Thank you.
