What’s on?
| Date | Time | Event | Description | Join future events or watch event recording |
| Monday 17 January | Family Mediation Week Launch | Watch the launch of Family Week to hear from Lord Wolfson, the minister with responsibility for mediation, the President of the Family Division, and John Taylor, the FMC Chair. | Event recording | |
| Monday 17 January | Mediation & domestic abuse | Adrienne Cox, FMCA Mediator and Liza Thompson from the Mediation and Domestic Abuse Network will be discussing if mediation is suitable when domestic abuse has been identified. | Event recording | |
| Monday 17 January | Narcissistic personalities and the mediation process | Karin Walker and Dr Supriya McKenna are hosting a webinar to discuss dealing with a narcissistic personality within the mediation process. | Event recording | |
| Tuesday 18 January | Is there anything a mediator can’t do? | “Is there anything mediators can’t do?” A conversation with Philippa Johnson and Neil Robinson: mediators, PPCs and trainers. If, as Dominic Raab says, “mediation is the default,” and if the future of mediation is as part of an integrated Family Solutions System, family mediators will need to demonstrate their ability to respond collaboratively and flexibly to a wide range of challenges. Are mediators sufficiently ready for this challenge, and do current models and practices suffice? Do mediators need additional training to engage in “lawyer-supported mediation” or when working in separate spaces? Is there a need for mediators to be more ambitious and confident in what they provide, both to prospective clients and to referrers? Is there a need for a new offering of Integrated Family Mediation? |
Event recording | |
| Tuesday 18 January | Mediation & the divorce coach | Emma Heptonstall, a divorce coach, discussing how she can assist clients within the mediation process. | Event recording | |
| Tuesday 18 January | Supporting clients in the family mediation process |
Louisa Whitney, an accredited and child inclusive trained family mediator and PPC explains what happens in the family mediation process and how it is set up, how you as a lawyer can best support that process to help your client achieve the best outcome, and how to deal with common problems that crop up in a constructive way. There will also be time for a Q&A. |
Event recording | |
| Tuesday 18 January | A mindful self-care session for professionals supporting families in crisis | FMA board member Sara Collins invites you to pause in the busyness of the day and take a little time for yourself. An experiential opportunity to learn some self-care techniques that you can weave into your professional day to support your own health whilst you are busy supporting your clients. | Event recording | |
| Wednesday 19 January | A conversation with parenting expert Sue Atkins
Kindly sponsored by Clarions Solicitors |
Sue Atkins, ITV ‘This Morning’, BBC Radio and Disney Jnr UK’s Parenting Expert is guest speaker with Sarah Manning, Solicitor, Mediator from Clarion Solicitors to discuss the effect of parents’ conflict on children and how mediation can assist families going through separation. |
Please contact Laura Courbet if you
would like a copy of this event recording: Laura.Courbet@clarionsolicitors.com |
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| Wednesday 19 January | A child’s voice in mediation | Sheila Turner presents a webinar to discuss the importance of a child’s voice within the mediation process. | Event recording | |
| Wednesday 19 January | 13.30 – 14.30 | The MoJ Voucher Scheme | Allan Blake, Chair of the FMC Voucher Working Party to discuss what is happening with the voucher scheme and where we are now. | Event recording |
| Wednesday 19 January | 15.00 – 16.00 | Enhance your mediation practice by becoming a Parenting Coordinator | Parenting Coordination is an established form of DR used widely across America, Canada and South Africa to assist parents to implement a final child arrangements order, arbitration award or parenting plan. Karen Barham, FMCA mediator, explains the model and explores how mediation skills are used to help parents resolve issues but if a consensus cannot be reached, the PC has authority to make a binding decision on the dispute. | Event recording |
| Thursday 20 January | 9.30 – 10.30 | Separated Parents Information Programme (SPIP) | Tracey Gore, Operational Coordinator for SPIP at Family Action presents the CAFCASS Separated Parents Information Programme (SPIP) explaining:
There will also be time for a Q&A. |
Event recording |
| Thursday 20 January | 10.45 – 11.45 | Improve communication and keep parents accountable in moderate and high conflict cases: How to best use OurFamilyWizard in Mediation | OurFamilyWizard.co.uk and its mobile applications are often made part of the parent agreement in an effort to reduce litigation and improve co-parent communication. Learn how parents and professionals utilise its features to manage and document communication. Learn who may access the family’s activity and obtain declarations on authenticated records.
This session will be delivered by James Evans, Professional Liaison at OurFamilyWizard. James will be joined by Elaine Richardson, an accredited mediator who will be discussing her experiences with OFW and the benefits that the programme has had for the parents she works with. |
Event recording |
| Thursday 20 January | 13.00 – 14.00 | Resources for family professionals | This interactive workshop will be led by Sarah Smith; mediator, parenting coordinator and FMA board member.
This will be a chance to share what resources we need that we struggle to find, gems we have already discovered and how we can be better integrated with our fellow mediators and other family professionals to make sure clients get the best and most holistic service possible, including a look at the new and emerging Alliances to coordinate this. |
There is no recording of this session as it was a resource gathering exercise. The resources gathered during this session and the rest of Family Mediation Week will be shared here. |
| Thursday 20 January | 14.30 – 15.15 | Thinking of becoming a PPC? | Beverley Sayers, Anna Vollans and Sally Clark discuss the benefits of training as a PPC, along with some of the challenges of the role. This is a great opportunity for Accredited mediators to speak to current PPCs and ask any questions you might have about the role. | Event recording |
| Thursday 20 January | 15.45 – 16.45 | Thinking of becoming a mediator? | Abigail Kirk, FMC Accredited Mediator & trainer for an approved FMC Foundation Course will walk you through the training and accreditation process, discuss the range of the FMC’s Member Organisations and approved FMC Training Providers, introduce you resources available to support you and how you can find out more about becoming a mediator. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A with Abigail and a recently accredited mediator. | Event recording |
| Friday 21 January | 9.30 – 10.00 | Advicenow | Mary Marvel from Law for Life explains the range of resources Advicenow have to help clients using family mediation after relationship breakdown, why not including pensions in a financial settlement can be a disaster, and what you can do to support your clients to avoid that pitfall, and find affordable advice. | Event recording |
| Friday 21 January | 10.15 – 11.15 | Hybrid Mediation | Elaine Richardson, child-inclusive mediator, consultant family solicitor, PPC, Resolution DR committee member, presents ‘Hybrid Mediation’, explaining: • what it is; • how Hybrid mediation is different to other family mediation; • the benefits; • when it is appropriate; and • how it works in practice. There will also be time for Q&A. |
Event recording |
| Friday 21 January | 11.30 – 12.30 | Mediation in complex financial cases | This discussion will be led by Caroline Fell, partner at Stone King LLP, an experienced family practitioner in both mediation and complex financial legal work.
The discussion will focus on how mediation can assist where significant assets or complex financial issues are involved for example, business interests, overseas assets and high value pensions. |
Event recording |
| Friday 21 January | 13.30 – 14.30 | Mediation & financial neutrals | Tamsin Caine a chartered financial planner from Smart Divorce, Sarah Manning, Solicitor, Mediator and Justine Osmotherley Solicitor from Clarion Solicitors will be discussing the use of a financial neutral within the mediation process to assist parties to reach a financial settlement. There will also be time for a Q&A. | Event recording |
