Mediation that prevents homelessness
Photo by Christian Erfurt on Unsplash When young people hit major conflicts with their parents or siblings, it can lead to them leaving or being thrown out of the house. The third in my series of guest blog posts is by Beth Owens, my mentee…
When Family Mediation offers so much more than a settlement
Harli Marten While I’m not trained in family mediation, it is often something that I get asked about. The second in my series of guest blog posts is by my good friend and Family Mediator, Laura Mackey. She offers her thoughts on what family mediation…
How to handle conflict when you hate it- like me!
Dmitry Ratushny Over the next few months I’ll be publishing a series of guest blogs from other people. This month, my other half, Ben Gilchrist, shares some personal reflections on being conflict averse. And how to handle conflict when you hate it. If you or…
Mel Poole
">The two best presents you can give this Christmas
“So what do you think mummy?”, my eight year old asked me. “What should I go for?”. His birthday was coming up and he’d been talking to me about what present to ask for. “I can’t decide”. He persisted, with all the urgency of an…
How to get unstuck from a conflict
If you’re feeling stuck in a conflict situation it’s not your fault. Sure, you’re part of what’s going on, but you need to know that it’s not all about you. In this post I share some starting points for getting unstuck and changing the conflict.…
5 top tips to have difficult conversations better
Would you like to have difficult conversations better? In this post I aim to share my experience of what works and what doesn’t. Most of us avoid difficult conversations because deep down we hope that the need to have them will go away. Occasionally,…
Some reflections on how to talk to children about war and peace
It was one of those bedtime moments when there’s a choice as a parent. Do I say ‘not now’ or do I engage in the topic? It was a chance to talk to my children about war. Understandably, not one I relished, but then I’d…
A lesson in preparing for conflict – from a 9 year old
When I explain to people what I do, they’re often surprised and ask me, “so what kind of organisations call you in to do conflict resolution training for them?”. It’s a great question. What’s behind it is usually some level of disbelief along the…
A lesson in humility and empathy
This week I had a lesson in humility from my eight year old and four year old. It was the end of the day and I’d been in on-line meetings all day and had also battled with some frustrating run-ins with technology. We’d just eaten…
A revelation about working in teams
All of us have a preferred way of operating at work, our default mode, if you will. Mostly it is unconscious. Often we make the mistake of thinking that everyone else sees things the same way that we do and this is where we can…
The power of a true apology – and why is it so hard to do?
The mediation session between Sarah* and Sandra* had gone well so far, but there hadn’t been quite the breakthrough that I’d hoped for. Sarah had admitted posting some things on social media about her work situation and had apologised to Sandra for this and for…
Why routine is key to achieving your goals in 2019
It’s a funny thing at this time of year how many of us automatically go into the mode of setting hugely ambitious goals for the coming year. I’m sure you know the kind of thing, ‘I will wake up at 5.30am and exercise for 40…
