Community Mediation Working Group – A Map for the Future
Community Mediation Working Group – A Map for the Future
The CMC Community Mediation Working Group is taking practical steps to strengthen access to local mediation services and support the long-term resilience of the sector. Discover how members are working together to put community mediation firmly on the map—literally and figuratively.
REPORT BY VICTORIA HARRIS
From its inception, a key focus of the CMC Community Mediation Working Group has been the accessibility of community mediation support.
CMC have sought to increase the resilience of the sector by advising organisations about current government tenders and supplying service providers with the information to make a pitch to funders, with the ultimate aim to enable individuals in conflict to find support in times of trouble.
The latest innovative project being led by this CMC Working Group is the creation of a digital map for community mediation services making it easier for members of the public to access their local provider.
The most recent meeting of this group focussed heavily on the best way to gather data to populate the map and how services could be appropriately defined. This consultative meeting expertly chaired by Alice Matthews from Mediation Plus, honoured the diversity of the sector which saw positive and collegiate voices sharing their knowledge and experience to contribute to a common goal. Thank you to all members of the group who have worked on this project to date with particular thanks to Lisa Owen from Wandsworth Mediation Service for the creation of the data gather questionnaire for individual services.
The meeting also saw the opportunity for members to share successes and challenges and look ahead to an in-person meeting in the Autumn, where the focus will be on engagement with those who refer to community mediation services.
Community mediation holds a key to preventing the escalation of disputes in to the justice system. It also supports individual mental health and the public services of health, housing and community safety upon which we all rely. CMC Chair, Kelly Stricklin-Coutinho who attended the meeting commented that community mediation is at the heart of the CMC three-year strategic plan being launched in June and thanked all attendees for their work and support to help sustain and raise the profile of this vital mediation sector.
For more information about the work of the CMC Community Mediation Working Group contact our Deputy Chief Executive, Victoria Harris, at projects@civilmediation.org.
