David Mitchell … after 42 years as an active thinker, teacher, mentor, writer, poet, talk-back radio doctor, integrative person-centred GP, and winemaker, retired and decided to be a mediator. Disappointed with the process-centred teaching approach, he began thinking about what makes a good mediator:

…. “ A good mediator requires the intellect to hear, feel and understand each participant’s actions, reasoning, and emotions, process this practically and objectively, and reflect back understandable, credible, even compassionate, non-judgemental information. Simultaneously, the mediator’s cool, calm, collected and compassionate demeanour is meant to be comforting, emotionally levelling and removing ‘stinking thinking’ in the participants. However, there are no given ways or means of accessing or enhancing any such qualities in mediation articles and seminars”

He began publishing papers that had titles and content like “The mediator as a conductor”, “A mediator asks curious questions”, “Would Aristotle make a good mediator?” (answer is YES), “The compassionate mediator”, “The reflective mediator” and over 20 more.

In 2024, he gave his first public dissertation on the philosophy, psychology, persona and working in the now that makes a mediator a ‘good person’ who is, in Aristotle’s words, “the right person, at the right time, for the right reasons, for a greater good”. David called this approach THE 4 PILLARS of mediators and, with the collaboration of two of Adelaide’s mediators, initiated the 4Pillars peer group discussion/ reflection/face-to-face gathering on a monthly basis. A success for Adelaide and its mediators.