Blog

Breaking the cycle of conflict – mediation plays a part

Last week I saw a video of a young boy in the US tutoring his little brother to calm down with breathing exercises https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3HjqIg25Mc . My first thought was how inventive the little chap was in recognising his brother was losing it and finding a way to stop a difference becoming a major tantrum. I compared this

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Mediation training in prison – conflict management at the sharp end

I was apprehensive as I approached the main door of a high security prison a year ago. I was there, with a Yorkshire Mediation Services colleague, to train prisoners and officers in mediation skills as part of the prison’s violence reduction strategy. All of my training as a mediator had taught me not to make assumptions

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Community mediation at a crossroads – Can we meet the challenge of the mental health crisis?

Back in the mid 1990’s when I first became involved in community mediation it was very much an extension of local authority and housing association best practice. Mediation charities like YM were virtually entirely reliant on resolving issues between neighbours, and I well recall a judge in Sheffield saying that mediation was appropriate only when

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That’s a good question!

Much of our learning comes from questions. Some questions provide us with bits of new information such as “What’s the capital of Ecuador?” or… “Who won the first football World Cup?” (Answers below). These snippets of information questions, often referred to as closed questions, provide simple single word or very short answers. They’re just like

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