Bristol Mediation © All Rights Reserved.
Brief History of Bristol Mediation
We are an independent local organisation offering community mediation in the Bristol area. We were founded in 1987, in response to rising social tensions in the city, and since then thousands of people have used our service to help them to resolve disputes. We have also trained over 150 local people to become mediators.
We spent our first three years widening our circle of supporters and carrying out market research. We sought funding to set up a training resource, to train mediators and to raise awareness of mediation. By 1990 we had built a group of trainers and found local support and funding for a mediation scheme through the Bristol Safer Cities Project.
Since then various projects have been undertaken which promote mediation in different areas. The Schools Project trained schools in Peer Mediation and the manual which accompanied this is still selling across the city and beyond. The VOICES Project sought to provide restorative justice for young offenders and their victims. In Southmead, a mediator was available on the estate and helped to co-ordinate the efforts of residents and agencies to improve the estate. Bristol Mediation has also had some involvement with mediation in the contexts of health, the workplace and many other areas.
Bristol Mediation (BM) provides and promotes services which empower people to resolve conflicts.
To ensure that everyone
in Bristol and the surrounding area
has easy & equal access to relevant and useable community conflict resolution services.
Our site
Gives general information about Bristol Mediation (this page), how to contact us, our news items, our policies, our services, any vacancies, and an who's who page. Among the other topics on this site you will find a page about the mediation process, links to related sites, suggested reading, a page about training to be a mediator, along with a contents page.
The main area of work is now the Neighbour Mediation Service (also called the Community Mediation Service) which deals with disputes arising between neighbours across the city. We have over 30 trained mediators who deal with approximately 120 cases per year.
Mediators provide mutual support by working in pairs and attending regular small group meetings. They work within our published good practice guidelines and within a strict code on confidentiality. The initial training course takes 30 hours and is accredited by the Open College Network.
We also work within Bristol Prison helping prisoners come to terms with their crime and the effect on their victims. Sometimes, through our restorative justice programme, we are able to arrange a meeting between to victim and the offender. Called victim - offender mediation.
Currently our work with children in care is on hold. We have had our funding withdrawn.
Bristol Mediation is a Registered Charity (No.1000641)
and
a Limited Company (No.2538842).
Introduction to us and our website.
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