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What is Mediation?
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The reasons are different for everyone.
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If you are looking to use a mediation service to deal with your clients, tenants, staff or customers there are clear benefits to be found in terms of reducing costs, time spent, profits lost, etc. Your local service provide will be more than happy to help you explore this cost/benefit analysis.
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Equally, by keeping proceedings out of the courts, there are substantial quality of life improvements you could bring to your clients through mediation
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The range of outcomes available through mediation is almost infinite. Legal solutions generally offer only a few possible solutions involving financial recompense, orders to restrict behaviour or means of punishment.
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Mediation is nearly always cheaper for service users than any other structured intervention – in many cases it is completely free at the point of delivery.
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Mediation is a swift process. Some conflicts can be settled within hours or a few days. Even where they take a few weeks, it is nearly always much quicker than other formal methods of resolution
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It is a voluntary process. Despite the good reasons and strong incentives that are outlined to encourage people to mediate – it is always a voluntary process. You should never be forced to mediate.
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Finally, if it is swift, voluntary and more often than not free, why not give it a go?
Remember, if you are still not quite sure, why not contact a mediator or your local service to see if they can answer any further questions you might have.
The answers to a small number of questions will soon help you decide who to contact…
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What Type of Dispute Are You Dealing With?
Many mediators/services specialise in particular types of conflict. If you have a problem around divorce and/or separation then you will need to look for a Family Mediator. A problem with a neighbour should direct you towards a Community or Neighbourhood mediation service. You will find more information on Types of Mediation here.
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Where in The Region Are You?
Our Services Page provides a simple way of seeing who is working in your area. Some services are geographically limited, and some practitioners can only carry out certain types of mediation.
There are a number of our members who are not limited by geography, and others who can swiftly adapt their particular type of mediation to meet your specific needs.
If you cannot find exactly what you want to access, please contact us to see if we can put you in touch with the right person.
If the service you want is not here, why not look at our section on how to set up a service.
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What Expectations Do You Have?
You may need someone to help you as soon as possible. You might need to be assured that you are receiving a high quality professional service. You may wish to query any charges that are made.
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You may want a service to have clear standards that guide its operation. You might wish for certain response times and detailed information exchange.
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You might simply want to know how mediation is going to work and what it will mean for you.
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We aim to provide some of that information here, and encourage and support all our members to provide clear answers to any such questions so that you can choose the service that is right for you.
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The Midlands Mediation Network is committed to promoting high quality services in the region and will work together to listen to concerns and needs and help one another adapt to meet them.
If you still are undecided, contact us and we will put you in touch with the best person to answer your questions.
The best place to start is our Services Page. Here you will find all the contact details of our membership.
If you cannot find who you are looking for, then contact us and we will see if we can find the mediator you need. If the provision you want is not there, then why not see if we can help get a brand new service set up?
As much as the our members spend a lot of their time mediating, almost as much energy goes into helping people to improve their conflict management skills in order to prevent future conflict.
Some services can deliver training in a variety of settings, whether it be around how to deal with difficult clients, how to draw up an agreement for family chores or how to handle complaints, mediation skills lend themselves to a variety of settings.
A number of our members specialise in designing and delivering bespoke mediation programmes and are available for consultation to help you define your particular training needs.
But one of the best ways to improve your conflict management skills is to train to become a mediator. There are a number of courses available in the region – many are focused around providing the skills to become a practising mediator within a local service. Some courses exist to equip you to become an independent mediator. Individual services can advise accordingly.
A brief overview of one typical course could look like…
OCN Training Programme in Mediation Skills (6days)
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The Training Programme in Mediation skills is a comprehensive and intensive 6-day training programme, accredited by the Open College Network (OCN).
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It covers the skills, theory and techniques of alternative dispute resolution and is based on the Mediation UK Training Programme in Mediation Skills.
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Participants learn how to manage conflict confidently, positively and constructively.
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The Programme gives an in depth analysis and insight into mediation with particular reference to resolving inter-personal disputes and conflict.
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Participants will develop and enhance their negotiation, problem-solving and facilitation skills in order to feel confident in their ability to effectively mediate conflict situations.
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Participants are required to complete a portfolio of learning. The course is a notional 90 hours, 50% taught time and 50% self study.
Formal Qualifications in mediation are emerging all the time. To find the most up to date information, please contact us.
You may have disputing parties contact you or your organisation and your traditional methods of dealing with them may not be wholly satisfactory – either for you or the disputants.
In most areas within the Midlands you should find a local service that may be able to have such cases referred to them for mediation. There are also many individual practitioners who will take referrals.
In most instances there will be a charge, and those charges are nearly always much less than it would cost to deal with them through the courts or lengthy internal procedures.
In all cases the service/practitioner will want to be sure that the mediation intervention is exactly what you need, and will work with you to ensure that everyone’s’ expectations are fully communicated and understood.
Have a look at our Services Page to see if you can find what you need, or contact us to see if we can provide you with some other alternatives.
At some point that question was asked before any one of our member organisations started delivering mediation in the Midlands. And as many of our services are relatively young, the collective knowledge and experience we have around this subject is an immensely useful resource.
What type of dispute do you want to mediate? How many cases can you foresee being referred in a typical year? What funding might be available for this? These are just a few questions you may wish to try to answer, which will help us to help you.
Our organisations have include directors, trustees, treasurers, funders and mediators – all with a tremendous amount of experience around creating and (perhaps most importantly) sustaining a healthy and well-used mediation service.
Membership of the Midlands Mediation Network could save hundreds of hours of development time with access to other members’ policies and procedures, ideas and help.
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