There are times in life when relationships, collaborations are, complicated, severely strained and talking to each other, whether that involves a couple, family, neighbours or work colleagues becomes difficult or impossible. In such situations, mediation can well be the best pathway to help resolve the conflict.
What is Mediation?
Within a family, neighbourhood or workplace, conflict can be extremely distressing. In our personal life, disputes can affect our health and have a negative impact upon children. At Together Forward, mediators are trained to work sensitively, through mediation, in the most highly charged of cases to help parties move forward with their lives.
We can help with disputes such as couple conflict, separation, child contact and conflict between different generations within a family. This list is not exhaustive and please note that we do not offer mediation information assessment meetings (MIAM).
Mediation is a way of resolving dispute where communication between parties involved is supported by a third party, the mediator, with the aim of helping parties arrive at an agreement to resolve their differences.
How does it work?
Sometimes disputes emerge, as people make assumptions about what another person is thinking or why they are behaving in a certain way. Mediation allows parties to put forward their experience of the dispute to each other in a safe and supported environment. Mediation allows parties to be and feel heard. The mediator’s role will be to help parties to find solutions to the dispute.
What is involved in the Process?
When we have received a referral and we have confirmed that we have funding to help you, we will contact all parties and arrange initial and individual meetings. In the unlikely event that there is no funding available we will request a fixed fee mediation service. Usually, most cases that we undertake are fully funded.
A mediator will arrange to visit you in your own home or at an agreed venue for the individual and initial meeting. You will have the opportunity to privately put forward your experience of the dispute to the mediator, who, in turn, will advise you on the mediation process and respond to any questions or concerns that you may have.
If following these initial meetings both parties wish to have a joint mediation meeting, thus one will be arranged at a time and date to suit all parties. We will hold mediation meetings at a neutral venue that is convenient to all parties.
During the joint mediation meeting, parties will have the opportunity to explain their experience of the dispute and listen to what the other person has to say. Participants will respond to what they have heard and possible solutions to the dispute will be explored.
Where one person does not wish to be in the same room as the other party, during the joint mediation meeting, we could offer you a shuttle mediation service, which is where the parties sit in separate rooms and the mediator shuttles between the parties to facilitate the mediation.
Is mediation confidential?
Yes, information shared or discussed with the mediator remains confidential, unless there is risk of harm to individuals.
Does mediation work?
Parties to a mediation are there voluntarily, as their common objective is to resolve the dispute.
Most of the time, disputes surface due to a lack of communication, but the mediator will help facilitate better communication.
One reason for the success of mediation is that the parties are able to find their own solutions to the dispute and as such the solution is more likely to hold.
Is it better than other sorts of dispute resolution?
Legal proceedings usually involve high costs and can be very stressful to go through, but mediation can be organised and take place rapidly and produce results in a timely manner, with low costs and reduced stress. Furthermore, parties can find a solution that works for them.
Is the mediation agreement legally binding?
Any agreement reached through mediation, whether verbal or written is not legally binding. However the fact that the parties have voluntarily reached the agreement means that it is more likely to succeed. The benefit of a mediated agreement over a court imposed solution is that the parties can create innovative solutions to suit their particular circumstances.
How long does the mediation process take?
This largely depends upon the availability of the parties. It is possible for the mediation process to take less than 3 weeks assuming that everyone is available to meet with our mediators and attend a joint mediation meeting within that timeframe.
How successful is mediation?
Our mediators have an 87% success rate in reaching a verbal or written agreement following a joint mediation meeting.
How to access mediation with Mediation Together Forward?
You can make a self-referral by contacting us via email or telephone or you may be referred by a third party, such as social worker, housing officer, employer, etc.
It is natural to feel anxious or uncertain about whether mediation is the right option. This is why we offer a private individual meeting to both parties before we ask them to confirm if they wish to participate in a joint mediation meeting. In the event that a party does not want to attend an individual meeting or they do not want to go to a joint mediation after their initial meeting, we can offer another service that we refer to as conflict coaching both parties.
CONFLICT COACHING
Mediation is a voluntary process and so, for it to happen, both parties need to willingly participate. At Together Forward C.I.C., we understand that for most people, this could be their only experience of mediation and it is natural to want more information before agreeing to attend a joint meeting.
We also recognise that many people feel uncomfortable at raising the prospect of mediation with the party with whom they are in dispute and initially may have no idea if the other party would be willing to mediate or not.
Together Forward C.I.C offers and initial and private meeting to go through details of what mediation entails, how it could help and let parties to individually to bring out any concern or query that they might have with regard to the process.
After the initial meeting, mediators would make contact with parties to find out if they would want to progress with a joint meeting, although there is no obligation to go ahead. When one party refuses to make it to the initial meeting or, sometimes, following the initial meeting, one declines to go ahead with the a joint meeting, we would offer ‘conflict coaching’ to both parties.
Conflict coaching is about supporting individuals’ ability to engage in, manage, or productively resolve conflict when mediation becomes impossible.
Conflict coaching can be appropriate in some circumstances, including divorce and post-decree situations, community disputes, conflicts in the workplace, family disagreements, or business conflicts. Here, the conflict coach will be a confidential listener, help the parties to see things from all angles and perspectives, support people in considering options, and encourage them to come up with suggestions to form and an action plan, in order to deal with the conflict.