Mediation Training Course for Individuals and Organisations

Would you like to be trained in the HCM Approach to mediation?

"I approached Mediation training with ambivalent feelings – I have often found staff development training at the university to be of limited use, however I hoped that this time things would be different. It was; this six day course was a revelation. On the first day I came to appreciate how far-reaching a mediator’s approach to dealing with conflict could be." - Dr Mary Richards, Brunel University

HCM has been working with Brunel University Student Complaints Department to assist them in developing mediation as an effective response to student complaints.

We are offering a mediation training course in our unique approach to mediation.

The HCM Approach does not rely on those involved in a dispute agreeing to a face-to-face or 'joint' meeting before it can assist them in resolving their difficulty. It happens or it doesn't. Our approach to mediation can assist disputants whatever their level of involvement in the process.

(Please note, we don't mean Shuttle Mediation)

Many mediators become disillusioned with mediation when they find they cannot 'get the parties to a joint meeting'.

• The skills to facilitate the creative thinking of any party or parties they work with, whether individually or in a face-to-face meeting, such that new, more effective ways of responding to their dispute can be created.
• A recognition that 'success' or 'resolution' of a dispute is not dependent on the parties meeting in the presence of a mediator.
• The learning that the HCM Approach to mediation is fundamentally about supporting the empowerment of individuals to create more effective ways of responding to their difficulties.

If you choose to join us, some of the Skills you will enhance on the course include:

• Creative Questioning Skills to support the creativity of disputants
• Recognising and managing your own assumptions
• Recognising and managing your 'Rescuer' which undermines your effectiveness as a mediator.
• A simple but powerful approach to continuous, reflective learning to develop your mediation practise beyond the training course.

We acknowledged from our very beginnings that a face-to-face or joint meeting was an optional, not an essential, aspect of what mediation can offer.

Where a face-to-face or joint meeting does not occur, the mediators can still support individuals in finding self-supporting ways of responding to their dispute, which can, in itself lead to a resolution of their situation.

We have many examples of this being so and a small selection of these can be found in our booklet: Examples of Cases involving Hillingdon Community Mediation and the different ways in which mediation can help in neighbour disputes

Many disputes become 'stuck' because there is a continual expectation for the other person involved in the dispute to change. This dependency situation can become chronic if the party or parties affected by the situation make this the only option for resolution.

Taking such a perspective disempowers the individual as it leads to a belief that the only option for resolution to occur lies elsewhere than within themselves, implying they are somehow 'irrelevant' to its resolution. When both parties to a dispute adopt this view there is an inevitable impasse.

Mediation training can often focus more on ways of 'getting the parties to a joint meeting' than on simply supporting any disputant in finding more effective ways of responding, whether in a joint meeting or individually.

It doesn't have to matter.

If a mediator adopts an approach where it does matter, it can render them as powerless and frustrated in their own practise as the disputants are in their conflict.

The Hillingdon Community Mediation Training Course trains you in the HCM Approach which allows all contacts made with a party experiencing conflict to become an opportunity for them to create more effective ways of responding to their dispute, whether on the telephone, or at an individual meeting with the party, or in a face-to-face meeting between all the parties in dispute.

If our Mediation Training Course sounds interesting to you, please fill in your contact information below to register your interest in our course. You will then receive some more information about the course including the different packages available and potential discounts.

Please note: We will only use this information to provide you with information about our Mediation Training Course and our other services. We will never pass on this information to other organisations or individuals.

We have provided training and consultancy in mediation and related skills for a range of different organisations - Click Here to see our list of previous clients.

Mediation is, as we understand it, about supporting the empowerment of individuals to create more effective ways of dealing with their difficult situations.

If we make it a 'requirement' that those involved meet face-to-face in a meeting facilitated by us, before we say we can assist them, then we are at risk of failing in that aim, as we are implying a 'dependence' on us for them to resolve their dispute.

But of course there may be many other ways in which they would rather work their way through their dispute towards resolution, none of which may require our presence. The booklet referred to above describes a small sample of the ways in which people we have worked with have managed to do this.

The Hillingdon Community Mediation Training Course trains mediators in an approach which acknowledges this.

Please note: Our training is not about Shuttle Mediation which we do not practice as an approach to mediation.

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