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 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.”

NHS Survey Reveals Greater Trust in Mediation

Mediation Plus - the community mediation service for Eastbourne and Wealden - has welcomed the results of a new survey of NHS Trusts across the country has shown that mediation is gaining in both popularity and credibility within the healthcare sector.

Of the 133 Trusts which responded to the survey conducted by the TCM Group, 83% are already using mediation to resolve workplace disputes, with 87% of those reporting a significant reduction in the number of grievances.  Some 43% of Trusts reported a fall in the number of employment tribunals they had to defend, a statistic they attribute directly to the introduction of a mediation scheme.

Evidence from the survey suggests that that NHS Trusts are using mediation to secure positive outcomes within an increasingly complex and challenging range of conflicts and change processes. Trusts reported that they were using mediation to resolve disputes between colleagues, as well as managing conflict between healthcare professionals, patients and their families.

Disputes within the NHS, like so many other sectors, are damaging, destructive and a significant distraction at times of major change and transformation. With such negative impacts, it seems that many Trusts feel that enough is enough and are turning to mediation as an exciting alternative which it seems is delivering significant benefits. The outcomes being reported from mediation are impressive and NHS staff are seeing that mediation can produce very creative solutions to systemic problems by engaging everyone.

Mediation Plus Service Manager Clive Gross said “The results of this survey demonstrates that using mediation can result in less time is being spent dealing with grievances and litigation, resulting in reduced costs on tribunal hearings and reduced stress on all parties involved. Finding solutions that everyone agrees to and are not imposed from above leads to increased levels of wellbeing and productivity, which are major benefits to the NHS or any organisation looking to resolve disputes in a non-confrontational way.”

Mediation Plus offers both workplace mediation to local organisations and businesses, and accredited mediation skills training to managers and other employees who have to deal with the public or handle complaints. This includes other areas of the healthcare sector including providers of care and nursing homes.

Gill Bellord, Head of employee relations at NHS Employers is particularly enthusiastic about the role of mediation. “NHS Employers support the increased use of mediation in the NHS as an effective means of resolving complaints, managing change and handling workplace disputes. There are benefits in terms of outcomes, maintaining on-going relationships and value for money.”

For more information about the mediation services and training available locally, call Mediation Plus on 01323 442781 or visit our main website.

Mediation Service Raises Planning Permission Holiday Concerns

Mediation Plus, the community mediation service for Eastbourne and Wealden, is concerned that Government plans announced last week to relax planning permission requirements for property extensions may trigger a wave of disputes among local residents.

 

The service – which has been providing independent and impartial community mediation since 2006 – deals with an average of 120 cases each year. Among the most common causes of disputes between home owners are parking, boundaries and extensions such as conservatories and garages. The plans announced last week would allow extensions of up to 6 meters – double the current limit – to be built without local planning consent.

 

Service Manager Clive Gross said “While the current planning process may seem cumbersome for small developments like conservatories and garages, it does at least provide a mechanism for genuine concerns about the impact of these works to be properly considered. Any extension larger than the current three meter rule may have significant implications for the occupiers of the adjoining properties in terms of outlook and privacy. Doubling the threshold seems to suggest that planners should only get involved when the damage is potentially already done.”

 

Statistics from the Local Government Association show that the proportion of planning applications approved by town halls has risen over the past decade, reaching 87% last year. Home owners who may previously have had planning permission refused for legitimate reasons may now decide to exploit the proposed planning permission ‘holiday’ to go ahead with these schemes.

 

Mr Gross continued “Mediation is a very effective way of resolving disputes, especially if people come to us early before issues escalate. Unfortunately, once a building is up it is usually too late and arguments can even turn violent. We hope the very short public consultation process being scheduled for these proposals will allow the Government to reflect fully on their implications.”

Mediation Plus backs new report on ‘First Aid’ approach to anti-social behaviour

Local mediation and conflict resolution service Mediation Plus has welcomed the new report from the Royal Society of Arts and NESTA published last week that has highlighted the potential for teaching local communities ‘First Aid’ skills in directly tackling anti-social behaviour in local communities.

Published on the first anniversary of the summer 2011 ‘riots’, the report looks at ways communities can be empowered to tackle these issues for themselves, as other community safety services face several years of spending reductions. The reports’ author Ben Rogers outlines the four key features that mark this ‘First Aid’ approach out:

“First, it is a skills-based approach, with the curriculum designed by professional experts and regularly revised in light of developments in expert knowledge. Second, the curriculum is simple, so that almost anyone can master it. Third, despite its simplicity, it is aimed primarily not at children but adults. Fourth, it appeals to both civic or humanitarian motives and to less selfless ones – first aid skills can be helpful in saving strangers but also a family member or friend, or even oneself. And it can enhance a CV and provide people who are relatively unqualified, or not employed, with public recognition.”

Aside from training members of the public, specific groups that could benefit from this approach could include public service including park keepers and playground supervisors, street wardens and housing estate managers, publicans and shopkeepers, residents of social housing, young people in schools, ex-offenders, and senior managers and executives in public and private sector organisations.

Mediation Plus Service Manager Clive Gross commented “This report highlights exactly the approach our service and our colleagues across Sussex are currently developing. We have already run a successful Peer Mediation training programme in local primary schools, and are now developing workshops and courses for adults. As an accredited training provider with over ten years experience of working with local communities, we are in a unique position to drive this approach forward.”

As the report highlights, finding funding to run effective programmes has proved a challenge, even though costs can be under £100 per person for a workshop. It also recommends developing skills within the community so training can be passed on by lay trainers – a technique also being developed by Mediation Plus.

Clive Gross added “We are currently awaiting the outcome of a funding bid that would allow us to run exactly the type of programme this report champions, with participants trained to be able to pass on their skills within their communities. We hope other local partners such as housing associations, local authorities and crime reduction partnerships would also be interested in funding programmes like this, as they could save significant amounts of time and money by giving communities these invaluable skills.”

Sussex Police make £400 donation to Mediation Plus

East Sussex Division Superintendant, Neil Honnor presented a cheque for £400 to Wealden and Eastbourne's community mediation service Mediation Plus. The Hailsham based charity, which has been assisting neighbours and families in dispute since 2006, relies on donations and grant funding to maintain their service to local communities.

Mediation Plus Service Manager Clive Gross said "We are very grateful for the donation and continued support from our local Police service. At a time of cuts in public funding, contributions like this are even more valuable in helping the service to survive and will go towards us keeping our volunteer mediators active in the area."

Superintendant Neil Honnor said, “Sussex Police fully support schemes like Mediation Plus and this donation will hopefully go in some small part in helping them to continue the excellent work across Wealden and Eastbourne”.

The donation comes from the Police Property Act Fund, made up of money received by the police from property confiscated by order of court and then sold if an owner cannot be identified.