Mediation Wales
(October 2006)
Ann Cahill, an Information Support Worker at Mediation Wales, talks about improving mediation services in Wales.
1. What does Mediation Wales do and how are you funded?
Mediation Wales is the umbrella body for the provision of mediation in Wales. We provide support to practitioners and act as a referral body for members of the public and other agencies. We also do training and awareness raising for various organisations and local authorities. Our recent work has concentrated more on the Communities First areas in Wales - these are the most deprived areas of Wales where the Welsh Assembly is looking to support and empower the people in those communities to work for the regeneration of their own areas.
We are part of Mediation UK and our project is currently generously funded by the Welsh Assembly Government.
2. What does your role as an Information Support Worker involve and how did you come to this role?
My role is to quite varied but mostly it's about researching relevant information for my colleagues and mediation practitioners in Wales, and that can be funding or future work opportunities as well as keeping an eye on national and Wales government policies. I also write briefing papers for various potential users of mediation and also for our practitioners in Wales. I am currently writing a good practice guide for using mediation in Communities First areas.
I came to this role via Mediation UK where I was working, and because of my experience in research and writing. I became interested in mediation as I had been what I call a 'trainee pacifist' since a teenager, but always felt uncomfortable in just saying violence is wrong, as there does need to be practical ways of resolving conflicts. I was very interested to hear about mediation and wanted to become involved.
3. What type of person makes a good mediator?
A brave one! Seriously, there are some skills that you can have in training such as listening skills, facilitation, conflict management. But to start with you do need certain personal characteristics including understanding of others, genuineness, flexibility, openness to others. Mediators come from all walks of life and are all ages and backgrounds.
Many people use some of the skills and characteristics of a mediator without even realising it!
4. What type of organisations in Wales do you provide support and advice to?
Wherever there is conflict, there is an opportunity to resolve it constructively. In practice we work with a wide range of organisations, agencies and individuals. However as our funding comes from the Welsh Assembly, we have concentrated in the past in those areas of devolved responsibility and have worked with registered social landlords, anti-social behaviour partnerships, local authorities, the police, schools, as well as with mediation organisations and private practitioners. We are happy to try and assist anyone who contacts us, and we attend events and seminars promoting and informing whoever will stop and listen!
5. What type of training do you provide?
We can provide various types of training or put people in touch with other trainers or organisations. Currently we provide basic awareness training, conflict resolution understanding for professionals and front line staff, and mediation training itself.
Through our networking and briefing papers we also provide ongoing training for mediation practitioners on subjects and areas of work that they ask for.
6. How does Mediation Wales get its message across to the public in Wales?
We try various things including writing in newspapers and magazines, radio interviews, posters for schools, information, posters and Directories of Mediation Practitioners are sent out free to all libraries and CABs (Citizens Advice Bureaux) in Wales. We were lucky enough to have had a BBC Charity Appeal Broadcast in Wales last autumn. Our telephone number and website details are also listed in a number of Welsh Assembly and UK government publications that are aimed at the public and also in campaign material for events like Noise Action Week.
7. In what situations does mediation work the best/least?
To be honest mediation can work in all sorts of situations, and in any sphere of life, as long as the people involved are genuinely searching for solutions. This is because it's the people themselves who come up with the solutions. Where it can have its fullest range of benefits is where there needs to be a continuing relationship between the parties. This can be neighbours who need to continue living near each other; separated or divorced couples who need to continue to see each other because of the children; work colleagues who will continue to work with each other in the future, and so on.
Where mediation works least well is where one or both parties aren't engaged in the process, they may have been 'told' to go to mediation. Part of a mediator's job is to assess willingness to engage before taking a meeting forward. Sometimes a mediator may then either suggest an alternative means of going forward, but more usually they are able to address the concerns and fears of the person and thus increase their willingness to give it a go.
The few areas where mediation is not attempted is where for some reason a person may not be able to remember or fulfil any agreements made. This might be due to ill health or to drug or alcohol use.
8. There has been a rapid growth in the use of mediation in recent years – why do you think people are choosing to resolve their disputes outside a legal setting?
The Courts and the various Tribunals are hard pressed and over-worked. But access to justice for all is so important. One of the Department of Constitutional Affairs' remits is to encourage people to 'resolve their disputes effectively and proportionately' and they do this in many ways including hosting, along with Her Majesty's Court Service, the now annual Mediation Week (9-13 October 2006). So encouragement is coming from the top as well as from grassroots level.
In the past there has been little that people can do if they can't resolve an issue themselves. They have either had to leave it and live with it, or resort to solicitors. With no disrespect to lawyers (I have two in my family), going down a legal route can be very expensive, time consuming and stressful. There was a real need for a less formal method of resolving conflicts, and also a method that left decision making in the hands of the people concerned.
Because trying mediation doesn't exclude taking legal routes afterwards if mediation doesn't work, and because mediation is a confidential process, there is little to lose to try it. And now that courts will adjourn cases to allow mediation to take place, and even under the new civil procedure rules, are coming to expect parties to have at least investigated alternative means of dispute resolution, people are seeing the potential of it more.
9. What are the main advantages of mediation? What steps can be taken to encourage the wider use of mediation and proportionate dispute resolution?
The main advantages are that it is less time consuming, less expensive, less stressful, that it empowers those involved, that it is forward looking, that it can prevent issues escalating. (It has been in the news more than once where someone has been shot and killed over an argument about a hedge!) With the best will in the world, legal solutions can only be applied where there is a breach of the law. Mediation can be used where no such breach exists or where it would be hard to prove.
It is essential to continue the work that various agencies, individuals and government departments have started, and that is to continue to build early opportunities for mediation (or other ADR) within formal processes, and I know that the Council on Tribunals is working on this too. People don't think much about how to resolve disputes until they are in one. We need to make sure all those organisations, agencies, advisory bodies who people would normally approach on how to progress their issue, are aware of mediation in order to sign post them to it.
One excellent way to promote mediation would be to have it as a part of a story line on East Enders or Coronation Street! However, the problem with that, or with working with the media generally is that journalists and others are 'unlikely to cover an outbreak of consensus' as Jim Wallace MSP QC recently said. Mediation is a fantastic process but it just isn't the dramatic stuff journalists are looking for.
10. One of your special interest areas for mediation is in Special Educational Needs (SEN). What are the particular issues of concern here?
SEN Mediation isn't a direct area of work for Mediation Wales, Mediation UK has involvement in this. But you are right there are areas of concern in such work and other areas of work such as family mediation or disability conciliation (Disability Conciliation Service is also part of Mediation UK and provides conciliation on behalf of the Disability Rights Commission) or any other mediation where children or vulnerable adults might be concerned. An integral part of a mediator's training is recognising and taking account of power imbalances between the parties involved and this is particularly apparent when it is individuals on one side and representatives of large organisations on the other. Added to that, some of the underpinning foundations of mediation in all its forms are respect, equality and empowerment and these help make mediation such a powerful tool for change in people's lives and ultimately for social change.
These areas of work are also within the boundaries of legislation and mediators who work in these areas need to have more specialist knowledge and to keep their knowledge of legislation up to date.
11. Which aspect(s) of your role give you the greatest/least satisfaction?
It's a dual satisfaction really, I love being able to get information out there to the public on the potential of mediation, and I really love to hear when someone has been through the mediation process and then decides to train themselves – that's just fantastic! The other area I really enjoy is research and writing – the information gathering and being able to provide key information and sources for our mediation practitioners, to save them having to reinvent the wheel.
I can't say I have any frustrations in my work other than the common ones of lack of time and resources. I am exceptionally lucky to be involved in work that I feel passionately about and can feel I am contributing to society even in a tiny way.
12. What does the future hold for Mediation Wales?
Mediation Wales has been very lucky in being funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and with their commitment to mediation – it shows imagination! I am always impressed with the ministers who sometimes come and talk at events, their passion and willingness and determination to do things the best way for Wales is truly remarkable. It may be with being such a young Assembly and having a more intimate understanding of the special concerns of Wales and the special talents of the Welsh. And I speak without bias here as I am Irish!
However, like almost every other charitable body in the UK funding is a great problem and working with the uncertainty of funding which often comes for a couple of years at a time. However, whatever happens to Mediation Wales, mediation in Wales is here to stay and there are some great mediators and mediation organisations out there. And if you want to know who they are some of them are listed on our website: www.mediationwales.org.uk.