Mediation

It may help to appreciate that Mediation works to the following principles:

• Mediators are neutral – rather than representing the interests of one party they are there to help both parties reach a mutually agreed settlement.
• The mediation process gives both parties the opportunity to be fully heard, and to hear what the other side of the story is.
• Mediators do not pass judgement or impose solutions – the parties to a dispute are encouraged to voluntarily take responsibility for finding a practical solution to there own problems, although mediators will assist in exploring whether all the issues have been covered and whether an agreement is liable to hold.
• The dispute is not aired in public – mediation is a private process involving only the mediators and the parties to the dispute, and mediators act under a code of confidentiality.
• An important part of the mediator’s job is to identify and help resolve the underlying causes of a conflict as well as the symptoms – this means that any agreements reached are more likely to lead to long-term solutions.