When you refer yourself for mediation, or you have been referred with your consent by someone else, we will open a case file for your dispute and then allocate 2 mediators to the case.
Click here for examples of cases we have helped in
The Visit
One of the mediators will make contact with you to arrange a time and date to visit you, usually in your home, but if for any reason you would prefer the visit to be held elsewhere this can also be arranged.
The mediators will visit you in order to do 3 things:
1. To hear your view of the situation that is causing you difficulty
2. To explain to you what mediation is and what a face-to-face meeting would involve so that if you want this it may be one of the options you choose to try to resolve the dispute.
3. To help you generate other options, that is to say, other ways that you might be able to resolve the dispute, or that might help you to deal with the difficulties in a different way that causes less distress for you.
The mediators are there to help you create new ways of responding to the dispute. They are not advocates for you or your neighbour and remain impartial throughout the process.
The mediators are not there to 'investigate' the situation to find out who is 'right' and who is 'wrong'. They are there to help you, and possibly your neighbour if they also wish to have mediation, to resolve the dispute in a way that works for everyone.
Mediation is about creating a way forward for the future, and not about attributing blame for what has gone on in the past. Many disputes fester because those involved devote a lot of time and energy to proving that the other person was 'in the wrong' rather than devoting that energy towards improving things for the future.
Mediation is about creating a way that works in the future and enables past difficulties to be left in the past.
to the top