The Martha’s Vineyard Mediation Program (MVMP) celebrates its 30th anniversary in October, and state Sen. Dan Wolf and state Rep. Tim Madden are coming to the Island for the occasion.

The public is invited to join Senator Wolf, Representative Madden, MVMP board members, volunteer mediators and other supporters of the program at the Dukes County courthouse, Main street in Edgartown, on Wednesday, Oct. 1, at 11 a.m. for a short program, followed at 11:30 a.m. by a reception at the Baylies Room in the nearby Whaling Church.

Mediators help people have the difficult conversations that are often necessary before they can settle their differences. The Martha’s Vineyard Mediation Program provides these services for Dukes County residents on a sliding scale fee basis. Parties to small claims cases in the Edgartown district court may elect to go to mediation instead of having their case decided by the clerk-magistrate; this service is provided at no cost.

The MVMP was founded in 1984 as a court-based program by Judge Herbert Tucker and Thomas Teller, then clerk-magistrate for the Edgartown district court. In 1990, the program expanded to accept cases from the Martha’s Vineyard community. It is approved by the state as a court-annexed mediation program and thus is able to handle cases referred by the Edgartown district court, superior court, and probate and family court.