Humour in mediation: Sparking laughter through improvisation

In mediation practice mediators develop interventions to assist parties in the exploration of their conflict. Humour is one method of attempting to ease tension between parties and engender positive emotions in the mediation. However, not all mediators are comfortable using humour in the mediation setting. Dramatic improvisation, the actors' discipline of creating stories without preparation, can incorporate comic elements. Arguably, learning about improvisation can assist mediators to trust their comic instincts and include humour in the interventions that they use in mediation. This article suggests various improvisation games to assist mediators to develop the intervention of humour in their practice.