Mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that is becoming more popular and mainstream by the day.

Traditional methods

Disputes are typically dealt with adversarially. Whether by winning an argument with someone or via a formal process such as a tribunal or through the courts. Here legislation will be used to decide who of two or more parties in dispute is ‘in the wrong’.

In some instances this is the most appropriate way of dealing with a dispute, for example, where a law or tenancy agreement has clearly been broken. But, in many cases it may be difficult to identify who is the ‘victim’ and who is the ‘perpetrator’ as both parties may have suffered a hurt.  But both may also have inflicted a hurt- either physical or emotional.

‘Winning’ an argument or dispute can often have long term negative consequences if the ‘loser’ feels resentment and takes out some form of revenge.

Mediation as an alternative

Dealing with disputes through mediation encourages both parties to work together to find a resolution to their problem.

This may be difficult if they do not like the other person or are frightened of them, but by continuing the dispute and dealing with it adversarially, the long term consequences can be much worse.

Mediation is designed to take into account people’s fears and anger towards each other and provides a ‘safe space’ to create better ways of dealing with the issues that cause the dispute.

In the case of neighbour disputes, mediation offers the chance for neighbours to find ways of living next door to each other which do not lead to problems. Often, neighbour disputes lead to people moving from a home they love, or they stay living in their home but have a constant ‘bad atmosphere’ and feel unfairly restricted in how they carry on their lives. Mediation offers a way of removing these problems.

Mediation is not easy, but it is realistic.