FAMILY MEDIATION WEEK 2022
Monday 17 to Friday 21 January 2022 is family mediation week, organised by the Family Mediation Council to spread the word about the benefits of family mediation. You can find all the details here https://www.familymediationcouncil.org.uk/fmw/ .
Family mediation is one of the most cost-effective and quickest ways to deal with the issues surrounding relationship breakdown and it works because it is a choice: participants attend voluntarily to sort things out and this self-determination is a strength of the process. It is confidential – subject to the usual caveats regarding abuse – and it provides a private space where participants can think about and receive support to help them resolve issues.
In other words, family mediation enables the participants to make their own decisions based on what will work for them and their families when relationships breakdown. It is an opportunity to reduce the animosity that can arise during court proceedings.
The family mediator is the impartial third person and will help participants to communicate better with one another and reach their own informed decisions. It has been shown that agreements reached through the mediation process are more likely to last compared to decisions imposed upon people who decide to take their disputes to court.
In fact, judges sitting in the family courts encourage people to settle their differences away from the court and they support the use of mediation to do so. Part 3 of The Family Procedure Rules states that “the court must consider, at every stage in proceedings, whether non-court dispute resolution is appropriate” .
I am a Law Society accredited mediator as well as a practising family solicitor and have found that the two skillsets complement each other. As a mediator, I can share my experience as a family solicitor, together with information and resources. In Hybrid mediation I work as a mediator with the participants and their lawyers.
Since the pandemic struck in March 2020, mediators have been offering their services online and the benefits include a rapid response time, no travel time and associated travel costs with location being no obstacle. I am now working with participants and their lawyers across the country and abroad. Mediation participants benefit from the swift, flexible and cost-effective response which online meetings provide in the comfort of their own environments. Mediators have adapted their services and risen to the challenges posed by the pandemic in a flexible and practical way.
Compare and contrast this to the inevitable backlogs now faced by the court system and it is easy to see why mediation is an attractive choice for many separating couples, particularly since legal aid is still available for family mediation.
Mediation is appropriate in most family relationship breakdowns. Often, the situation will involve a separating couple wishing to resolve the arrangements for their children, their finances and their divorce proceedings. The creativity and flexibility of mediation includes participants being able to sit together or in separate rooms during the mediation meetings.
There are many options to custom build a mediation. Solicitors can support their clients by being directly involved in Hybrid mediation and a suitably qualified mediator can meet with children independently of their parents if this is agreed. Independent financial advisors can assist in a neutral capacity and the participants can work with a family therapist or a divorce coach.
Mediation meetings are planned to enable the participants to feel as comfortable as possible and the mediator provides reassurance when worries arise about meeting with a former partner.
The opportunities provided by family mediation will be highlighted during family mediation week and if you would like to get involved or find out more about family mediation week, please visit the website https://www.familymediationcouncil.org.uk/fmw/ .