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.”

Mediation Plus triple service quality mark celebration

Eastbourne and Wealden community mediation service Mediation Plus is having a triple celebration after being awarded the Bronze, Silver and Gold "SQP" quality mark for their intergenerational mediation service Time2Talk by East Sussex young people's services network SPARK.

 

The "SQP" - or "Simple Quality Protects" - awards were made for demonstrating that Mediation Plus achieved a wide range of quality standards including safeguarding training, protecting confidentiality, a volunteer code of conduct and risk assessment. Mediation Plus were one of only two East Sussex organisations awarded all three levels of accreditation at the recent SPARK Awards at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill.

 

Service Manager Clive Gross said "Having a locally devised and run quality assurance mark specifically aimed at smaller charitable organisations that allows them to independently demonstrate the quality of their services without the prohibitive cost and administrational burdens of others such as ISO or Investors in People is a real boost for services like ours. Service users, local agencies and funders all quite rightly want to be sure that the voluntary sector organisations they work with have high professional standards, and SQP helps us to offer them that reassurance."

 

While the SQP mark was specifically aimed at the Time2Talk service for young people and their families, which is currently funded by BBC Children in Need, the accreditation process also helped to ensure that the other mediation services being offered by Mediation Plus were also up to the mark. 

 

Chair of Trustees Barbara Molog added "While we were confident we have always provided high quality services to our communities, going through this process with SPARK made us think through everything we do again and refresh our systems and procedures. We now have everything in one place so that we can better maintain our standards of service in the future, and will fully involve our Trustees, staff team and volunteers in ensuring we do."

 

The SQP Awards round off a successful year for Mediation Plus, with Barbara herself having already won the Wealden District Council "Trustee of the Year" award a few months ago and the organizations' recent AGM welcoming two new Trustees onto their Board. Barbara added "As with all small Charitable Organisations, there is a constant need to keep a tight reign on expenditure as well as trying to maintain and grow the services and activities we offer, and it is thanks to all the team in our Hailsham office and the dedication of over 50 volunteer mediators in the community that we have managed to achieve this for another year."

 

Photo: (L-R) Service Manager Clive Gross, Casework Administrator Catherine Lulham and Time2Talk Coordinator Joan Eades with Mediation Plus's Gold, Silver and Bronze SQP Award certificates.

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.

Co-op support training new mediators at Mediation Plus

A new group of neighbourhood mediators have just completed their training with Mediation Plus – the community mediation service covering Eastbourne, Wealden and Lewes – with the support of funding from The Co-operative Community Fund.


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 across the area and work to complete their full accreditation from the Open College Network.

Joan Eades, Training Development Manager at Mediation Plus said “We have been impressed with the very high calibre of people training 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.”

Also celebrating joining the service in a new capacity was experienced mediator Izzy Halton, who has just passed her PTTLS course with support from East Sussex County Council’s Skills Share Bursary Fund and becomes one of Mediation Plus’s group of in-house trainers.

Joan continued “As a specialist mediation training provider, we are particularly keen that all our trainers have experience working in the field, so we are delighted to have Izzy on board as a trainer and are planning to add two more mediator trainers to our group this year.”

Mediation Plus also has a few places left on their first community mediation training course starting in Willingdon Trees next month, aimed at training people from local communities to help tackle disputes in their area. 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 signing up for the course should contact Joan Eades at Mediation Plus on 01323 442781 or email training@mediation-plus.org.uk as soon as possible for an application pack.

Free Mediation training on offer for those who can see both sides of disputes

Mediation Plus – the community mediation service for Eastbourne and Wealden – is looking for tenants in the Willingdon area who think they are good at listening to both sides to train to become Neighbourhood Mediators.

 

Supported by funding from the European Social Fund through the Skills Funding Agency, and supported by Eastbourne Homes, Mediation Plus will be running its first ever community based Mediation skills training programme at the Willingdon Trees Community Centre starting next month.

They are looking to create a team of up to 20 trained accredited community mediators who can intervene early to diffuse local conflicts, neighbour disputes and anti-social behaviour in their area, helping to prevent minor issues becoming major problems and improving the quality of life of all residents in the neighbourhood. A number of participants will go on to be trained as trainers, who can help recruit and train further volunteers in the future.

This 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.

It is suitable for 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.

Anyone interested can come to a Drop-in Session at the centre on Tuesday January 22nd from 10am-1pm where you can come and meet the Mediation Plus team and some of their other volunteer mediators. If you would like details and an application form, please call 01323 442781 or email training@mediation-plus.org.uk

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.