Social Services/Public Sector Mediation
We provide mediation for Children & Families and Adult Social Care matters, between staff, service users and families or other third parties. The aim of mediation is to de-escalate tension, provide early resolution of potential issues and avoid or resolve the need for litigation.
Mediation can also provide a means of settling court proceedings once they have begun, avoiding significant financial and emotional costs for the parties.
Mediation can help to settle disputes over issues such as:
- Care arrangements
- Relationship breakdown (e.g. due to previous or ongoing communication issues)
- Loss of trust and confidence between parties (e.g. following safeguarding issues)
- Family contact or service-user living arrangements
- Any other conflict situation where the relevant parties want mediation, or which a Court has deemed appropriate for mediation
How it works:
- Each person who is party to the dispute will have a one-to-one initial meeting with an experienced MESH Mediator
- For those willing, MESH provides a joint meeting
- The joint meeting is held online or in a neutral location
- Two-party or group mediation sessions are available
- This mediation is a chance for each person to be heard about the impact of the situation on them, their hopes moving forward, and a joint discussion of the key issues so that mutually agreeable resolutions can be reached
- The joint meeting is long enough to allow all the issues to be resolved to the satisfaction of those present, wherever possible
- Further joint meetings can be requested by the parties to the dispute or by the referrer if one meeting is not sufficient to resolve the issues to the satisfaction of all present
- One-to-one conflict coaching can also be provided, to support individuals involved in dispute where the other party is unwilling or unable to attend mediation
- Clients and referrers can continue to access follow up support from MESH with the specific issue mediated, for up to 12 weeks after the Mediation finishes
If you have any questions about whether mediation may be suitable for your staff or service users please contact us
“I contacted MESH for support in relation to a complex issue and received excellent help and advice in relation to steps to take to support the situation, I was also impressed by how quickly the service was able to respond”