New project seeks volunteers to help resolve neighbourhood noise problems

A new project in Eastbourne is looking to recruit volunteers to help local residents who are having problems with neighbourhood noise. Developed by community mediation service Mediation Plus in conjunction with Eastbourne Borough Council and Eastbourne Homes, the new ‘Community Resolution Assessors’ will visit members of your local community who are experiencing low level anti-social behaviour - especially around environmental noise – in the Eastbourne Borough Council area, to help them understand the issues that they are experiencing and explore options for them to find a resolution.

Volunteers will go through a specially designed Open CollegeNetwork accredited training course delivered by Mediation Plus to provide the skills assessors will need to deliver this service to the local community. The training will equip all the participants with an understanding of how conflict situations can arise, the different avenues available to resolve these issues and when a case is appropriate to be referred to mediation.  These are transferable skills which will support the participants in other roles within their lives.

Once trained and accredited, assessors will meet with local residents who have been referred to the new service up to three times, and will receive on-going support from the Mediation Plus team in developing their new roles. 

Mediation Plus Service Manager Clive Gross said “This is the culmination of over a years’ work with the Borough Council and Eastbourne Homes to develop this new service and we are delighted to now be ready to train our first group of volunteers. Similar projects training volunteer community assessors to help local residents resolve anti-social behaviour issues have been run very successfully by other community mediation services – such as New Forest Mediation in Southampton – and we hope this new development for Eastbourne will prove equally successful.”

Funding for training and supporting the first group of Community Resolution Assessors has been provided by the Eastbourne Borough Council Community Grants scheme and the Eastbourne Community SafetyPartnership. The course will be run across three consecutive Saturdays starting on March 5^th in a central Eastbourne location for up to 16 volunteers. 

Anyone interested in being among the first trained group of assessors should contact Joan Eades, Mediation Plus Training Manager on 01323 442781 or email Joan as soon as possible for further information and application form.

Mediation Plus launch new service for workplace disputes

After over ten years helping residents of Eastbourne and Wealden resolve neighbour and family disputes, Hailsham based community mediation charity Mediation Plus is launching a new service to help resolve disputes in the workplace.

Supported by funding from the Big Lottery Awards4All programme, a group of the services mediators have just successfully completed their specialist training designed to enable them to help businesses and organisations of all kinds and sizes across the area. Mediation avoids the need for employers to go through lengthy and expensive grievance procedures and concentrates on building practical working relationships that can help people and the organisation going forward.

Service and Development Manager Clive Gross said "We spend a huge percentage of our lives in one kind of working environment or another. Most people would like work related conflicts resolved but sometimes they do not know how to, or they are unable to work through how to make the changes happen. Workplace mediation can resolve conflict quickly and in a safe environment. It is a completely confidential process which encourages people to talk openly and empowers those involved to own issues affecting them and avoids decisions being imposed."

Workplace mediation is now being widely used by businesses and organisations worldwide and can be equally effective in helping charitable and public sector organisations resolve disputes as well as commercial businesses. For the employer, workplace mediation can help to quickly restore healthy and positive working relationships, focus people on the future not the past and can take place at any time to try and resolve a workplace relationship issue.

Clive Gross added "This new service is a key part of our long-term aim of making mediation accessible to resolve all kinds of conflicts - not just the neighbour and intergenerational dispute services we are well known for. As a locally based charity, we are able to offer an affordable service to smaller local organisations as well as those larger employers who may already be aware of the benefits of mediation. By using Mediation Plus, they would also be helping us to sustain our community mediation service for those local residents who need it."

As part of the launch of their new service, Mediation Plus has secured a limited amount of funding to offer local charities or community groups in Eastbourne or Wealden a free dispute and conflict resolution service to help them deal with issues between staff, volunteers or trustees that may be affecting their ability to operate or deliver their services to beneficiaries. To qualify for the funded service, you must be a registered charity or constituted community group with an annual turnover of under £100,000 and referrals are subject to continued availability of funds.

If you are interested in finding out more about the new service, please visit the Mediation Plus website, phone us on 01323 442781 or send an email.

Mediation Plus helps launch Ugandan school mediation project

Mediation Plus – the community mediation service for Eastbourne and Wealden – are celebrating the successful launch of a school mediation project in Uganda following the training of the projects’ Executive Director last autumn.

Early last year Mediation Plus were approached by Geoff and Geraldine Booker, founders of the Quicken Trust - a small Hailsham based educational charity which began its work on the Kabbudu Development Project, Uganda in 2000 after a chance visit. They had secured funding from the 'Commonwealth Professional Fellowship' to support Enoch Kagoda, Executive Director of the project to come to the UK and attend training and also to promote their work.

Geraldine said “‘When we first visited, the villagers of Kabubbu had no clean water supply, no electricity and no access to education or health care. They lived in poverty and destitution, surviving on subsistence farming and casual work breaking stones in a quarry. This job was done by women. They were paid £2.50 a week. Many children had been left orphaned by AIDS or malaria. The villagers saw themselves as ‘The Forgotten People’."

Enoch was keen to learn about mediation as he could see the value of peer mediation groups within the school and also wanted to use the skills within his role as director of the project and also within his community. After a week shadowing the Mediation Plus management team, where he was able to gain more knowledge on setting up mediation programmes, he completed their accredited mediation training where he was one of 12 participants from a wide variety of professional backgrounds.

Enoch said of his experience “It was a privilege for me to be able to get that kind of training from the UK. The support and encouragement I received contributed greatly to me being able to complete the course. The course was informative, interactive and the class size was just optimum. I liked the way the facilitators handled the learning materials. They were also friendly as well. The skills passed on were appropriate and make a trainee be able to handle a mediation process.”

Since returning to Uganda in November, Enoch has already started to implement his new skills and started the Trust High School Peer Mediation programme, as well as using the skills in his daily work for the project. Following the successful launch, Mediation Plus will be welcoming school Headmaster Ben to Hailsham in May to undertake their next mediation training course and advance the use of mediation in Kabubbu even further.

Mediation Plus Training Manager Joan Eades said “We are delighted that we have been able to help develop and promote mediation in this exciting new way and that the skills we teach our volunteer mediators here are now being used to such good effect as far away as Uganda. The success of our training has been evident in the professional and confident way that our mediators provide our services locally, and we have always believed there were many more individuals and organisations that could benefit from this knowledge. We are really looking forward to welcoming Ben in May and developing our work with the Quicken Trust even further.”

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.

New Mediators needed to support increased referrals

Mediation Plus – the community mediation service for Eastbourne and Wealden – is looking to recruit a group of new community mediators to help cover the increased number of referrals the service has been receiving this year.

With local public sector and statutory services such as the Police, Courts, Youth Support and schools all continuing to face a financial squeeze, mediation is being increasingly used as an alternative way to resolve disputes and help improve communication between neighbours and young people and their families.

Service and Development Manager Clive Gross said “We have been experiencing an increase in the number and complexity of the cases referred to our service over the last year, especially to our Time2Talk service that helps young people experiencing problems within their family or at school. We are also seeing a wider variety of issues between neighbours coming to us, including some resulting from the increased pressure on local authorities and social housing providers to accommodate people needing extra support to live independently in the community”

The service is looking to put up to 14 new mediators through their accredited mediation skills training course which starts next month, who will then help to diffuse local conflicts, neighbour disputes and anti-social behaviour across the area, helping to prevent minor issues becoming major problems and improving the quality of life of residents. The training will take place across five Saturdays in their Hailsham offices, starting on October 12^th.

Clive Gross continued “We are looking for new mediators from a wide variety of backgrounds and from across the area, but we are particularly keen to hear from people interested in working in the Uckfield, Crowborough and north Wealden area, where we have seen the largest rise in new referrals in recent months.”

The practical and interactive course offers participants the opportunity to develop mediation skills through exercises, group work and role play. Mediation skills are also applicable to many professional sectors, including housing, young people’s services, family support, education and is suitable for those working in other frontline support services dealing with the public.

For more details about the training and an application form, please call Clive Gross or Joan Eades at Mediation Plus 01323 442781 or email training@mediation-plus.org.uk

Drop in to find out more about free mediation skills training

If you are unemployed or not working and living in the Wealden or Eastbourne area, local community mediation charity Mediation Plus are offering free mediation skills training for up to 20 people to become Neighbourhood Mediators in their communities.

Supported by funding from the European Social Fund through the Skills Funding Agency, the course offers participants the opportunity to develop mediation skills through exercises, group work and role play. Mediation skills are applicable to many professional sectors, including housing, young people’s services, family support, education and many more.

The course is aimed at those looking to return to education and training, get into community volunteering, or learn new skills that may help them back into employment. Completing the course and accreditation process will give participants a recognised qualification at Level 2 or 3 that they will be able to build on with further training in the future.

Mediation Plus are holding a drop in session to find out more about the course at their offices in Western Road, Hailsham on Thursday 16th May between 10 and 11am. If you would like to attend, or get more details and an application form, please call Joan Eades on 01323 442781 or email training@mediation-plus.org.uk

Mediation service sees increase in referrals after legal aid cuts

Mediation Plus - the community mediation service covering Eastbourne and Wealden - has seen an increase in referrals to their family mediation service following cuts to legal aid funding to a wide variety of civil legal actions that came into effect in April.

Although pleased that mediation is becoming more widely recognised as an effective way to resolve conflict, the Hailsham based service - which offers mediation for neighbour, family, intergenerational and workplace disputes - is concerned that government agencies are seeing mediation as a cheap alternative to legal action and have not informed the public how the process really works.

Mediation Plus Service Manager Clive Gross commented "Mediation is about helping people to find their own solutions and is a voluntary process, while going to court is adversarial with an imposed solution at the end. Our service is not about taking sides or deciding who may be right or wrong. From the enquiries we are receiving, many people clearly do not understand this. They are looking for something to be enforced and are often not in the right state of mind to enter into mediation."

To help people better understand how family mediation works, the service has recently trained a group of its existing volunteer mediators to be able to talk people through the process and allow them to assess whether mediation is right for them. Supported with funding from the Affinity Sutton Community Fund, eight volunteers have just completed an OCN accredited family mediation course and are available to have an initial informal and confidential discussion with anyone wanting to explore the idea.

Clive Gross added "Helping people to really understand the power of mediation in different circumstances is a very important part of what we do, so we hope that giving our volunteers this extra knowledge will help more local people understand and access our service. While family mediation is not free, as a charitable organisation we are able to keep costs much lower that for-profit mediation organisations, and helps to support our community mediation work across Eastbourne and Wealden."

To find out more, visit the Mediation Plus website or call us on 01323 442781.

Mediation Charity Chair retires after over 12 years of service

After over twelve years of supporting the establishment of community mediation across Eastbourne and Wealden, Mediation Plus Chair of Trustees, John Gallop, stood down at the charity’s AGM this week (October 29^th) having seen the service through a very challenging period of change.

John used his last annual report to the meeting to highlight how the organisation has survived funding cuts and a financial deficit and was now looking forward to further positive developments over the next few years. John told the meeting:

“Over the past two years my report has highlighted the adverse effects that the economic recession has had upon both our community and the charitable sector and our sources of funding remain just as hard to attract. Clearly we are not out of the woods yet and Mediation Plus is still operating under difficult circumstances but, despite these difficulties, the service has survived and is already developing new strategies to assist in ensuring that this situation continues.”

John was instrumental in helping to set up the original pilot local mediation project in Hailsham in 1999, and has been Chair of Trustees for Mediation Plus since it was formed in 2006 by the merger of Eastbourne Community and Wealden Independent Mediation Services.

Explaining how he became involved, John said “My interest in mediation grew from my work at the time in pollution control at Wealden District Council. We were dealing with many complaints and neighbour disputes which we recognised could be better resolved by getting people talking to each other. Some people find it more difficult to talk openly if the Council is involved. So with the help of a government grant and the assistance of several other bodies, including the local Police, Social Services and the CAB, we set up an independent mediation service.”

The meeting saw the election of a new Board of six Trustees to guide the service over the next year as it continues to develop new ways of delivering mediation and conflict resolution services in the area. The charity has just been successful in a bid to run its first pilot outreach Community Mediation Skills Training course, where local residents from a deprived area will be trained to help mediate disputes in their local community.

John concluded “I should like to extend my thanks and gratitude, on behalf of my fellow Trustees, to all of the volunteer mediators, without whom there would be no service. I have witnessed Mediation Plus go from strength to strength. With the arrival of a number of excellent new Trustees this year, and in the knowledge that we have such wonderful staff at the helm, I am satisfied that the service will remain in good hands.”

New Mediators graduate at Mediation Plus



New Mediators receive their certificates

The first new group of mediators to graduate since Mediation Plus – the community mediation service covering Eastbourne, Wealden and Lewes – became an Accredited Training Provider with Open College Network, were presented with their certificates this week. The new mediators all completed four days of intensive training and will now partner members of the organisations experienced mediation team as they take on new cases.

Joan Eades, Training Development Manager at Mediation Plus said “We have been delighted with the very high caliber of people looking to train as mediators with us, all of whom bring a wide variety of professional and personal experience to the service. This supports us in being able to deal with the complex and often entrenched issues that are referred to us and allows us to offer a broader range of mediation services across our area.”

The Open College Network is a not-for-profit registered charity, which comprises nine regional networks across England. With over 25 years experience in the education sector, they lead the market in the recognition of achievement through credit-based units and qualifications, delivered to learners from 14 years upwards.

The next accredited course in Developing Mediation Theory and Practice Skills, will run at the Mediation Plus offices in Hailsham in March. The course will cover step-by-step mediation process, how to use different questioning styles, encouraging participation in mediation, confidentiality and impartiality, and ethical and professional standards. The course is open to both those looking to volunteer for the service or anyone interested in acquiring mediation skills in their personal or professional lives.

Anyone interested in training to become a mediator should contact Joan Eades at Mediation Plus on 01323 442781 or email info@mediation-plus.org.uk for an application pack. There will also be an Open Morning on Saturday 11^th February from 10am to 12noon where you can find out more about the course and meet some of the current team of mediators.

Mediation Plus become nationally recognised Training Provider

Mediation Plus – the community mediation service covering Eastbourne, Wealden and Lewes - has successfully achieved Training Provider Status with Open College Network London Region. This new development will enable Mediation Plus to offer accredited courses in Mediation and related conflict resolution and communication skills. All training will be delivered at level 3 and offer the participants the opportunity to benefit from the experience and knowledge of their team of mediators.

The Open College Network is a not-for-profit registered charity, which comprises nine regional networks across England. With over 25 years experience in the education sector, they lead the market in the recognition of achievement through credit-based units and qualifications, delivered to learners from 14 years upwards. Dedicated to widening participation, social inclusion, employer engagement and lifelong learning for all, they support flexible, responsive and quality assured learning opportunities.

Joan Eades, Training Development Manager at Mediation Plus said “We are delighted to now be able to offer our courses as nationally recognised qualifications, which reflects the level of professionalism of the training we have been providing our mediators for many years. It also gives us the flexibility to offer Continuing Professional Development not only to our mediators, but to other organisations, businesses or individuals in our area.”

The first accredited course, Developing Mediation Theory and Practice Skills, will be held at the Mediation Plus offices in Hailsham on November 19^th, 26th and December 3^rd. The course will cover step-by-step mediation process, how to use different questioning styles, encouraging participation in mediation, confidentiality and impartiality, and ethical and professional standards

Anyone interested in booking a place on the course should contact Joan Eades at Mediation Plus on 01323 442781 or email info@mediation-plus.org.uk for an application pack.

The Secret Life of a Mediator...

If you have ever wondered what being a mediator is all about or why people get involved with our organisation, then take a look at the interview published with Groombridge based mediator Trevor Harris that appeared in the Kent and Sussex Courier last week on the Press page in our website.

If you are interested in training to become a mediator, either with Mediation Plus or learning the skills for your own profession or practice, then there are still a few places left on our next accredited Mediation Skills training course running in November. For more information call us on 01323 442781.

Mediation Training Open Morning, October 8th

Mediation Plus are holding an Open Morning on Saturday 8th October for anyone interested in training to become a mediator. We will be running our next accredited Mediation Skills training course at the end of October, and the event is an opportunity to meet some of the service's existing mediator team, trustees and managers, and find out more about mediation.

The course is open to anyone looking to acquire mediation skills and will be offered at a heavily discounted rate for those who wish to become volunteer mediators with Mediation Plus after qualifying. The open morning runs from 10am to 12noon at Southview, Western Road, in Hailsham. For further information call Mediation Plus on 01323 442781 or visit www.mediation-plus.org.uk.