How mediation works

We find that being flexible and offering two different ways of working with family members is effective in helping most people to feel they can give it a try. 

Individual meetings for joint family mediation

Step 1

Meet with the mediator on your own to talk about what has happened to cause the difficulties, what you want to happen in the future and what your initial ideas are for moving things forward. With the exception of serious criminal activity or abuse, everything discussed in the meeting is private and confidential.

Step 2

If you choose, the mediator will then contact the other people involved to arrange Step 1 of the process with them.

Step 3

If you are all happy to go ahead, a joint meeting can be arranged.  The mediators enable you to each have the chance to discuss the difficulties from your point of view and how you feel and then move on to discuss what you want to do about it

Step 4

Everybody works together to make agreements about how best to move things forward.

Step 5

The mediators type up copies of the agreement for everyone involved. It’s usual for families to use more than one joint meeting to cover all the issues involved. The mediators can then review how things are going and build on / adapt agreements.

One to one meetings with a mediator

There is no pressure at any stage and some people choose to stick with meeting the mediator on their own.  This can help you to see things more clearly, learn from the past and decide how you could handle things from now on to achieve some positive changes.  We can still review how things go and help you to build on your successes. 

• Charity Number: 1050596
• Company Number: 03114996