New Hailsham community mediators complete their training

A new group of community based mediators successfully completed their outreach mediation skills training course run by Mediation Plus at the Hailsham East Community Centre last week.

Supported by funding from the European Social Fund, Mediation Plus adapted their accreditedmediation course to meet the needs of learners from a wide range of backgrounds who would benefit from having these skills in their professional and working lives.

The group included a manager of a sheltered housing scheme, a under-graduate psychology student, a former residential social worker, a local family services worker, a local town counsellor and business advisor, and lone parents with young families all looking to use their new skills in both their personal and professional lives.

Joan Eades, Training Manager at Mediation Plus said “We have been developing how we offer mediation training in the wider community to people who would not be able to attend our regular volunteer training courses and have been delighted that we have been able to work with people from such diverse backgrounds on this course. Everyone supported and encouraged each other and brought their own unique perspectives to our training.”

The new mediators all completed the twelve week training and will now have the opportunity to work with members of our experienced mediation team taking on new cases across Wealden and Eastbourne to practice their skills and work to complete their full accreditation from the Open College Network.

Mediation Plus Service Manager Clive Gross commented “This is the second community based course we have run this year and there is clearly both the need and interest from many different areas to deliver more courses in the future. However, without the funding support from the European Social Fund, we would not have been able to create this opportunity, and we will need the continuing support of funders like these if we are to expand our programme.”

Mediation Plus would like to hear from other community and voluntary groups, front-line support organisations or individuals who think they could benefit from gaining mediation skills so they can look to develop further courses. Anyone interested should contact Joan Eades on 01323 442781 or contact us for an initial discussion.