Training with Focus Mediation

I completed the FMA core training in London in January 09. There then followed a bewildering search for a mediation service that would take me on as a trainee. Ideally, I should already have been attached to a service, so that the core training was backed up by observation, but that had not been possible. Being restricted to one day a week and one hour’s drive from where I live made things difficult. Focus at Milton Keynes were the answer to my prayer: Mary Banham Hall was enthusiastically welcoming, because I wanted to qualify as a mediator for legally-aided clients, and those are few and far between.

The path is certainly long and arduous. I wanted to be able to mediate legal aid cases, so I had to get ready to practise and then complete five cases from start to finish, and write them up for my portfolio. Mary and her colleague Christine Bragg have gone out of their way to make this possible for me. They organised their diaries so that as many new cases as possible were scheduled for Wednesdays (my day), and then worked as co-mediators with me every week, discussing each case before and after the sessions. They checked my written work by email and provided support and evaluation at every turn. This is generous: they each have a very busy case load of their own.

I have learnt an enormous amount by watching how they mediate, by joining in, by making mistakes and being corrected. Mary and Chris have very different styles, and that, too, has been instructive.

I am half-way to completing my portfolio, after six months of one day a week. Cases typically take 2 – 3 months, and are be-devilled with cancellations and no-shows, so I have had to practise patience as well as persistence. I wish I were able to give more than one day, and in an ideal world, one would train full-time; but then who would pay the bills?! Juggling two professional diaries has been extremely difficult, as has landing in Milton Keynes with my mediator’s hat on right in the middle of the week when I am extremely busy being a legal-aid lawyer. The skills required are very different, and I would advise anyone contemplating this to give as much time as possible to the mediation training. I could certainly do with more sinking-in time.

Focus is an extremely well-run service. The procedures and practices are tightly adhered to; support staff are excellent; the offices bright and friendly. A group seminar is held quarterly, at which we concentrate on a particular topic, swap horror stories and enjoy each other’s company. My PPC, Deborah Turner, is also attached to Focus, and I have regular meetings with her in the Milton Keynes office.

Mary has now arranged for an LSC grant to come my way, which will help with my expenses and pay a small hourly fee for my work, which has hitherto been voluntary. So even that side of things has been thought of, for which I am grateful.

Caroline Friend