Mediation certification is not comparable to the authorizations or credentials offered in professions such as medicine and public school teaching.  In those cases, states set licensure requirements and issue an official stamp of approval for individuals who meet all the requirements.  The situation with people working in the mediation field is different. 

Mediation Certification: A Career Requirement?

Individuals interested in entering the business mediation field for example. have a natural desire to obtain any training that will be useful in their future career.  They may even believe that such training, culminating in some sort of certificate or license, is required to enter the field. 

The truth is that mediation is not a licensed profession in the United States.  Individual states set no requirements for working in the mediation field.  Anyone can start a mediation firm, regardless of whether they have received any kind of training.

This may seem like an oversight on the part of the states, but it was only during the second half of the twentieth century that mediation began to be regarded as a professional service rather than one performed on an informal basis alone.  Another factor leading to a lack of state-based licensure is the fact that those currently working in the mediation field have yet to reach a consensus as to how mediation should be practiced.  This is a prerequisite to generating an official training model that all prospective members of the field are expected to complete.