NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2013

CALM NEWS
By Corinne Rechais, Director In the past few months CALM has been working on an estate wide mediation. This involves 126 residents and mediating to resolve issues with the Resident Association. It is a challenging and fascinating piece of work. Thanks to Gillian, Tracey, Jan and Pauline who have been involved with the project. CALM are also finalising a contract for 10 workplace mediations to take place this summer. This is a great way to diversify our caseload and we will be working hard to secure more workplace cases. Thanks to those Mediators who responded to Diane Grammers questions, all the information has been passed on to the Trustees. Thanks also to Diane for her contribution as Volunteer Representative. Thanks also to Andrea Perry who breathed new life into the newsletter last year. We shall miss Andreas energy, ideas and articles.

WELCOME to the CALM newsletter, theres lots of news to cram into this edition. We hope you enjoy reading it.
Articles featured are: Diary Dates - page 1 An Office Update & Case Outcomes p. 1 How do Mediators Sound to Parties - p.2 What to let the Office know after a PreMediation Meeting - page 2 Update from Cecilia Popa (volunteer) - p.3 Expenses, Bar Graph page 3
Editor: Fiona Turner If you have an idea about future newsletter articles or would like to write a piece, please contact me on 0207 603 4840.

CASE OUTCOMES Statistics

A total of 188 case referrals were received in 2012 to 2013, and 145 cases were closed. See the case outcomes below.

DIARY DATES
Volunteer Development Sessions: Induction for new Mediators 6 June, 6pm Co-mediation & Agreements 18 June, 6pm Communication Workshop 8 July, time TBC

30% cases had mediation or RJ conference. 23% reached pre-mediation stage. 6% cases resulted in a next steps meeting. 31% telephone communication 10% letters / no response.

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NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2013

CALMs CASE BUSTERS
By Heather Loebl, LBHF Co-ordinator After youve worked on a pre-mediation meeting the CALM Coordinators would like some details from you. We need a brief summary of the meetings, one or two days later, in order to keep up momentum. Please include the following: Mediators & parties dates & times for a mediation. What the coordinator needs to be aware of for future conversations with parties: o Do parties want a supporter? o Mobility/health issues o Party reservations/doubts about the mediation o Timings might it be helpful to have mini pre-mediations before the mediation - maybe 30 minutes each? o 3rd party involvement or exclusion. Parties say yes to the mediators and then no to the coordinator if they expect their neighbours behaviour to change after the PM, and it doesnt. Could Mediators please spend a few minutes managing parties expectations? Remind them that nothing will change as a result of the PM, because no information is being repeated to their neighbour, as their conversations are confidential. Remember, just because parties might have said no to a mediation initially, with time to think it over and talk to friends & family, they can change their mind when the coordinator next speaks to them. You all do a great job in planting seeds of ideas, that the coordinator can build on when they next speak to the parties.

HOW DO MEDIATORS SOUND TO PARTIES? By Fiona Turner, RJ Co-ordinator

Liz Stokoe, (pictured above) ran a fascinating workshop on overcoming mediation blocks. Liz is Professor of Social Interaction at Loughborough University. She has delivered over 100 workshops to mediators in the UK and US using the method she has developed: the Conversation Analytic Role-play Method (CARM). Lizs workshop was packed with useful tips where we learned from listening to real life conversations between Mediators and parties. The session was so good that we have asked Liz to come back. One point Liz made was that parties are looking to Mediators, as experts, for new ideas on how to resolve their situation. Mediators shouldn't put forward strategies parties have already tried that failed. So don't suggest: "have you tried talking to them about it?" as a strategy as 98% have already tried this. If you want information about the past, ask the question in a different way e.g. "what has happened when you have spoken to them about this?" See below some of Liz s top tips: Inspire confidence - we are the experts and can genuinely say mediation can help. Dont be too apologetic when talking to parties. Appeal to a parties moral character phrase questions positively youd be willing to have a mediation meeting? Give empathy - Mediators can take impartiality too far & say nothing, this can come across to the party as we don't care. Replies such as that must be frustrating can be a helpful response. Watch out for the September workshop, Lizs website is http://www-staff.lboro.ac.uk/
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NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2013

Graph Showing the Number of Day & Evening Mediation / RJ Meetings in 2013
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UPDATE FROM CECILIA POPA

On 9th of June my European Commission programme comes to an end but I feel Ill always have been part of a fantastic team. Looking back on how things began, I realise how privileged I am to have come to CALM. I couldnt want for more professionalism, hardworking, caring colleagues, with good team sprit and the list can go on. I hope my work has brought just a little bit of sparkle to CALMs image and that the charity has become better known to the public through my efforts. Being involved within restorative justice and mediation in the UK was challenging work. I was excited to deal with each case, every time I had to call to prisons and observing an RJ conference was a huge experience, being able to see the theory put into practice. I will carefully fold this experience into my heart and into my knowledge and skills set. I will refer to it in the future, because I know I am better now because of CALM! Thank you to the CALM team, you are a real inspiration!

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Day time (10am - 5pm) Evening (after 5pm)

EXPENSES
CALM has reviewed the expenses available to volunteers and updated the form. We will send a copy out to all of you soon. The general rule of thumb is that we are allowed, by law, to pay out-of-pocket expenses. However, some extraordinary expenses may require approval from the office. Additionally, car, motorbike and bicycle expenses are restricted by HM Revenue and Customs.

Staff contact details: 020 7603 4014 Fiona@calmmediation.org Heather@calmmediation.org Marcia2@calmmediation.org Corinne@calmmediation.org

Remember in a mediation meeting, if you feel you are running out of time and theres still plenty of constructive talk to be had, on agreement points; offer another mediation meeting! If possible, get a date agreed at the time and the office will happily set it up. Mediation is flexible.

CALM is supported by:

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