What a mediation looks like

1. An initial meeting

There will be initial individual meetings with both parties – these meetings are confidential and usually last approximately 1½ hours. They are held in a private, informal and neutral setting. The purpose of the initial meeting is to discuss the difficulties being experienced and your view of the issues between you and the other party. The mediator will help you to consider what needs to happen and what you require from the other person/people involved. The details of the meeting remain confidential, and provided there are no risk or safety issues, the mediator will not divulge any information from that meeting without your consent.

2. After the initial meeting

If all parties concerned are ready to move ahead, the mediator will set up a joint meeting.

3. The joint meeting

This allows a more comprehensive airing of everyone’s views and offers a chance for people to speak directly to one another. The aim of this joint session is for the participants to reach agreement on how to improve their working relationship. The meeting usually lasts about half a day, however in some cases a second joint meeting may be needed if there are a number of issues involved, or if more negotiating time is required.

4. The mediation agreement

The agreement is a joint plan of what needs to happen in order to improve everyone’s relationships. The participants, not the mediator, decide what gets included in the agreement.

5. Reaching an agreement

When an agreement is reached during the joint session, the mediator will draft this in written form. The agreement does not constitute any form of report about the history of the dispute, or who is at fault. It focuses on what has been agreed to happen in the future.

6. After mediation

The mediator will follow up confidentially with each party in 6-8 weeks following the mediation. This will take place via email and is intended to establish if the agreement is working and if any further input is required from the mediator.