Sponsoring CME Activities
What Providers Should Know

1. Certified mediators are required to report 16 hours of continuing mediator education (CME) credits, applicable to each area in which they are certified, including 4 hours of mediator ethics in each 2-year renewal cycle.  Family and dependency mediators are also required to obtain 4 hours of domestic violence training.
   
   Mediators are required to meet new CME requirements:
   • County: 16 hours which includes 4 hours of mediator ethics, 2 hours of domestic violence and 1 hour of diversity/cultural awareness
   • Family: 16 hours which includes 4 hours of mediator ethics, 4 hours domestic violence and 1 hour of diversity/cultural awareness
   • Dependency: 16 hours which includes 4 hours of mediator ethics, 4 hours of domestic violence and 1 hour of diversity/cultural awareness
   • Circuit: 16 hours which included 4 hours of mediator ethics, 2 hours of domestic violence and 1 hour of diversity/cultural awareness


2. The Dispute Resolution Center (DRC) WILL NOT be pre-approving mediation activities.  There is no application or fee charged by the DRC to program providers.  For a program to qualify for CME, it shall “have a significant intellectual or practical content and shall constitute an organized program of learning directly related to the practice of mediation.”


3. CME hours are based upon a 50-minute hour.


4. To advertise that your program contains CME credits, you may use the following language on your program announcements, “This course is eligible for up to ________ CME hours.  Mediators are required to self report those hours applicable to their areas of certification at the time of their renewal.  For more information on the CME requirement, visit, www.flcourts.org, select Alternative Dispute Resolution/Mediation.”


5. Mediators will self report their CME hours at the time of their individual renewal. Mediators will not be sending the DRC proof of attendance after each activity.


6. Mediators should keep documentation of their CME activities in the event that they are audited at the time of renewal.  The documentation that we are advising that mediators retain, and the organization provide is a program agenda with time frames and topics reflected, a certification of attendance/completion, a copy of their registration information, or any other similar documentation.


7. Courses on general mediation skills, mediator ethics and domestic violence will apply in all areas of certification (e.g., county, family, circuit civil, and dependency).  Courses which are specific to one area of mediation (e.g., Mediation Skills for Family Mediators) may only be applicable in that area of mediation (e.g., family).


8. Mediators must complete half of their hours via attendance at a live seminar or attendance at an audio/video playback of a lecture with a group where the group discusses the materials presented.


9. CME requirements are part of the Supreme Court’s Administrative Order Governing Mediator Certification, AOSC07-57.

Questions can be directed to our website, www.flcourts.org,
click on ADR/Mediation or by calling DRC staff at 850-921-2910