Become A Mediation Champion
To celebrate 40 years of family mediation provision, the Family Mediation Trust is aiming to create 100 Family Mediation Champions. COULD YOU BE ONE!
We would like to invite you to step forward and help families to access mediation more smoothly and with confidence, by becoming a Mediation Champion.
What is a Mediation Champion?
A mediation champion is someone who:
- Works with separated families in some way; this could be as a teacher, community worker, social worker, solicitor, religious leader, magistrate or youth worker.
- Believes that most separating parents would benefit from adopting a low-conflict approach to making decisions around their children's needs and care.
How Do You Become a Mediation Champion?
We don't want to make it difficult to become a champion because we know how busy everyone is; we have, therefore, made the process as quick as possible. All we ask from you is to attend a FREE 90 minute workshop with one of our expert mediators, to learn about the options parents have when they go through a separation and the role of mediation in this process. 
The Workshop: Exploring Mediation
- The divorce/separation process.
- How a separation can impact on a child's well-being.
- What tools can parents' access to help make decisions for their children.
- How mediation works.
- How you can help families.
On completing the workshop, we will issue you with a certificate welcoming you as a champion. We will also list your name and organisation on our register of Mediation Champions.
As a Mediation Champion, We Ask You To -
Support families to explore family mediation in a positive way to help them manage their separation. This support could be as simple as signposting parents to mediation; or it could go further and you help them to be referred to mediation. We also ask you to try and dispel some of the myths that surround mediation when you talk to parents.
Why Do We Need Mediation Champions?
There are approximately 1.8 million single parent households, of which 90% are run by mothers. 49% of children living with a single parent will be living in poverty. We live in a world where we still see far too many families looking at court as the only way they can find a solution.
Courts play a critical role for families separating; but they are FULL - and many cases being managed in court could be managed in other ways, such as mediation. This was set out by His Honour Judge Stephen Wildblood QC, Designated Family Judge for Bristol, Gloucestershire and North Somerset who said; "Therefore, the message in this judgment to parties and lawyers is this, as far as I am concerned. Do not bring your private law litigation to the Family court here unless it is genuinely necessary for you to do so. You should settle your differences (or those of your clients) away from court, except where that is not possible. If you do bring unnecessary cases to this court, you will be criticised, and sanctions may be imposed upon you. There are many other ways to settle disagreements, such as mediation." READ THE HEARING
Families going to court can use legal support - but for a contested court case the cost of this can be well over £50,000 per parent. Or, and this is increasingly common, the parents are litigants in person. 71% of litigants in family court cases are litigants in person, and amazingly 58% of parties in domestic violence courts are litigants in person, including 21% of the applicants.
Regardless of the above, when someone says they are leaving their partner the first thing they are told is "find the best lawyer", "make sure you get what you deserve" or "don't let X have custody".
We need to amplify the message that there are other options than going to court and the child's needs should be the key focus to all decision making. To make this happen we need Mediation Champions.
Our Mediation Champions Are:
- Karen Taylor: Essex Family Law
- Zoe Mack: Mattishall Primary School
- Lydia Mack: Reducing Parental Conflict, Peterborough City Council
- Travis Britton: Dads Matter
- Jackie Jessiman: Fraser Dawbarns LLP
- Jane-Louise Burrows: Fullers Family Law
- Julia Moreno: JM Coaching Ltd
- Nina Young: Frank Conversations
- Olimpia Scott: Divorce Coach
- Paula Crowhurst: Polly Bloom Divorce & Separation Coach
- Janette Wood: Janette Wood Mediation
- Lois Stanley: Childrens Links
- Dolly Butler: Childrens Links
- Melody Cooper: Citizens Advice Diss, Thetford & District
- Karis Le Winton: Suffolk Law Centre
- Elena Perceli: Norfolk Community Law Service
- Cara Walker: Norfolk Community Law Service
- Daniel Bester: Surrey Family Mediation
- Sharon O'Donnell: Suffolk Law Centre
- Sue Palmer-Conn: Divorce Doctor
- Stef Taylor: Tendring Families First
- Julie-Ann Morgans: Tendring Families First
- Liz Pickford: Tendring Families First
- Juliet Harvey: Birketts
- Emma Stearman: Fraser Dawbarns
- Jennifer Satterthwaite:Childrens Links
- Kenneth Clarke: Laceys Solicitors
- Joanne Crawford: Childrens Links
- Karen Newman: BH&O
- Donna Robinson:1stForMediation
- Fiona Kimbell: Neom Coaching
- Claire Mawson: Family Matters Mediation
- Rhiannon Ford: Rhiannon Ford Divorce Consultancy
- Valerie Sylvestre: Sage Mediation
- Mark Pope: Bold Moves
- Annette Shaw: Pause Reflect Grow
- Nicole Macdonald: Tees Law
- Harriet Chastney: Tees Law
- Amber Kennedy: Tees Law
- Angie Brown: Dootsons Solicitors
- Kimberley Walkley: Ward Gethin Archer
- Tracy Sortwell: Magistrates Association
- Amanda Perry: Essex’s Mediation Online
- Roxanne McDowell: Norfolk County Council
- Stephanie Hill: Tees Law
- Lucy Capat: Ward Gethin Archer
- Alison Hewitt: Calm Mediation
- Ellie Hills: Tees Law
- Mary Kent: Norfolk Citizens Advice
- Sarah Holbrook: Tees Law
- Mark Chiverton: Tees Law
- Sarah Woodward: Sarah Woodward Coaching Ltd
- Rob Milner: Dootsons LLP
- Marion Platts: Family Matters Mediate
- Lisa Carter: LK Family Law
- Ella Bone: Ward Gethin Archer
- Bassey Williams: Jubilee Church London
- Lizanne Keenan: LK Mediation Services
- Claire Jenkins: Dootsons LLP
- Amanda Anthony: Childrens Links
- Kirsti Baldwin: Norfolk County Council
- Harry Calder: Tees Law
- Jackie Haverson: West Norfolk Carers
- Claudette Harper: Womans Work
- Jazz Dhillon: Womans Work
- Natalie Gordon: Womans Work
- Claudette Harper: Womans Work
- Linda Marshall: Womans Work
- Karen Barham: Moore Barlow LLP
- Christine Reynard: Mediation Surrey
- Shelley Howles: Mediation Surrey
- Chris Dickerson: Dads Matter
- Georgia Bryan: Talk Listen Change
- Jonathan Dickens: School of Social Work, UEA
- Susanna Manrique: Heigham Community Federation
- Stacey Staines: Norfolk Citizens Advice
- Peter Baughan: BBL Family Law
- Catriona Bailey: Norfolk County Council
- Bethany Lodge: Tees Law
- Caroline Andrews: Tees Law
- Tyler Simpson: Womans Work
- Robert Colwell: Hayes Storr Solicitors
- Alison Ward: National Family Mediation
- Maria Endall: Hayes Storee
- Jamie Owen: Norfolk Citizens Advice
- Karen Faulkner: Cambridge County Council
- Nadia West: Norfolk County Council
- Sellina Kauser: Buckles
- Charlotte Tumber: Recreation Road Infant School
- Julie Gordon: Astraea Mediation
- Deborah Lloyd: Birketts
- Chloe Smith: Cambridge County Council
- SellinaKauser: Vollans Mediation
- Anna Biggar: West Norfolk Carers
- Emily Skeet: Norfolk County Council
- Claire Colbert: Family Mediation and Mentoring
- Michell Randle: Childrens Link
- Neville McBrien: Norfolk Citizens Advice
- Rachael Kirkup: BPP
- Charlotte Tumber: Recreation Road Infant School
- Karen Faulkner: Cambridge County Council
- Jamie Owen: Norfolk Citizens Advice
- Salina Kauser: Buckles Law
- Nadia West: Norfolk County Council
- Maria Endall: Hayes Storee
- Isabel Acheson: BPP
- Sue Williams: Sue Williams Mediation
- Hannah Playdon: BPP
- Julie Gordon: Astraea Mediation
- Jennie Byrne: Elliot Mather LPP