SMP recently launched its Ordinary Membership Scheme. This scheme is available to mediators who have passed any of the courses set out in the Singapore International Mediation Institute’s (SIMI) Registered Training Program.
To apply for Ordinary Membership, you can download this form and mail it to Society of Mediation Professionals (Singapore), One Raffles Place #43-01, Singapore 048616.
Alternatively, if you would prefer an Associate Membership, you can download this form and mail it to Society of Mediation Professionals (Singapore), One Raffles Place #43-01, Singapore 048616.
Our Chairman’s letter is set out here:
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Dear fellow members of the mediation community,
- In my last correspondence to you in December last year, I had indicated how we were finalising plans for “a revised, and more refined, membership structure that recognises the qualifications and seniority of many in the mediation community.”
- We thank you for your patience in this journey, and for the feedback that you have provided us since then, both through informal correspondences, and in the subsequent town-hall and social event that we have conducted in recent months. Your thoughts and perspectives in the course of such engagement sessions were crucial and critical in allowing us to distil some of the key principles underlying membership and to understand how best to structure our membership model moving forward.
- As our Constitution makes clear (see Para 5.1 of the SMP Constitution, available at https://www.smp.org.sg/about-us/constitution/), the primary means to qualify for Ordinary Membership would be if individuals are, inter alia, “qualified or accredited as mediators by organisations approved by the ExCo”. After considering the feedback that we have received, the Executive Committee has decided that it would be appropriate for those who have been assessed, and have passed, any of the courses set out in the Singapore International Mediation Institute’s (SIMI) Registered Training Program (see http://www.simi.org.sg/What-We-Offer/Mediation-Organisations/SIMI-Registered-Training-Program) would qualify to be Ordinary Members of the SMP.
- We appreciate that such a “bright-line” test of what background should inform the SMP membership process is, almost by definition, over-inclusive and under-inclusive at the same time. However, as set out above, our Constitution does require that our Ordinary Membership base be predicated upon qualifications and/or accreditation through select organisations, and in the fine balance between ensuring diversity and professional standards, we thought it necessary to align ourselves to the work and standards of SIMI, as an independent third-party organisation committed, as we are, to applying and enforcing high standards of mediation.
- For those of you who qualify to be Ordinary Members, please take this as an invitation for you to sign up as a member of SMP.
- For those of you who may not qualify, we look forward to working with you to consider how we can meet your needs and would urge you to continue to join us in this journey as Associate Members of the SMP. Qualification standards are fluid parameters, and we would love to carry on the conversation with you moving forward to see how you can eventually become Ordinary Members of the SMP.
- … As always, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us should you have any questions. On behalf of the Executive Committee, we look forward to going on this journey with all of you, and with the other stakeholders in the mediation community, to bring our mission to advance the mediation cause and the standards of mediation in Singapore, to even greater heights.
Warmest Regards,
Lim Tat (Chairman)
Society of Mediation Professionals
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