Mediation is a service to help couples who have decided to separate or divorce, or who have already separated, to negotiate their own terms of agreement, while addressing the needs and interests of all involved. Mediation allows people to make their own decisions.
The Family Mediation Service encourages the separating couple to co-operate with each other in working out mutually acceptable arrangements on all or any of the following:
The role of the mediator:
How does the service operate?
professionally trained mediator assists the couple to reach their own agreement.
For an appointment requesting Family Mediation Service, both parties must contact (individually or jointly) and confirm their willingness to attend and sign the voluntary consent form.
Mediation usually takes between two and six sessions. Each session lasts approximately one / two hours. The mediation process may require joint meetings by the couple with the mediator or caucus (individual meetings) depending upon the case complexity.
Most mediations end with a written document that sets out all the details of the couple's agreement. This can then be taken to solicitors/ legal attorneys to be drawn into a Legal Deed of Separation and/or Decree of Divorce.
When a couple has reached an agreement, a session is offered to parents to invite their children in to discuss their new family arrangements.
What are the advantages of mediation?These include:
Overview
This intensive five-day program provides students with the hands-on opportunity to engage in mediations and acquire the skills used to assist parties with divergent interests to reach a resolution. Through extensive simulations in which students will have the opportunity to be both the mediator and a party in a dispute, students will learn how third-party intervention can resolve conflict in a wide variety of settings, from workplace and commercial to interpersonal and community disputes. A significant focus of the program will be the use of mediation role play exercises in which students will be observed and coached by professional mediators.
Format
This is an extremely intense and highly engaging workshop. Adults learn better by doing rather than just seeing, and therefore the course places emphasis on participants practicing the skills and process through role play and exercises.
Program Goals
Over the course of three -day intensive training, students will