Bristol Mediation © All Rights Reserved.
OUR NEIGHBOUR MEDIATION SERVICE
Our Neighbour Mediation Service has been the major part of the work of Bristol Mediation since our begining. Even when funds are hard to come by, we still endeavour to keep this service operational. To help us do this we are supported by Bristol City Council and some Housing Associations via Service Level Agreements. These agreements enable us to supply mediation services to their tenants, free of charge to the tenants.
We also take referrals from agency workers such as the Police or Housing Officers on behalf of the parties. We recommend that they discuss this with the parties first. Please contact us if you work for an agency and you want advice or training on how to present mediation to clients.
In the case of owner occupiers we only have a very small grant, which means we often have to make a charge for these cases. Ideally we would like more income for this side of our work so that all our service is free at the point of delivery.
The service helps people who are experiencing difficulties with their neighbours..
The type of problems we can work with include:
• Noise
• Children’s behaviour
• Rubbish
• Verbal abuse
• Anti-social behaviour
• Parking
• Boundaries, fences and shared areas
Our mediators are fully trained volunteers from the local area.
Who work to externally set national standards.
They are qualified to standards set by the Open College Network,
and soon after qualifying they are expected to obtain Competent Mediator Status.
For reasons of confidentiality we do not publish their names.
However they all carry Bristol Mediation Identity cards; on which they are identified by first name only.
The parties involved meet separately with mediators at first, usually at home. At this meeting the mediators find out what has been happening and how people feel about it. They explore the options available to the parties.
If the parties agree, the next step may be a meeting between all parties, with the mediators present. The mediators will help the parties decide on the issues to be discussed and what they want to do about them. All the parties will get a chance to speak and be listened to.
If parties don’t want to meet, mediators will help them consider other options.