Family Mediation
Other Support
• Children’s Groups
• Parents Groups
• Children and Young
Persons’ Counselling
• Child Contact Centres
• Legal Advice Surgery
(Grampian only)
Family mediation has developed beyond the context of separation and divorce. You
might find it also referred to as intergenerational mediation, stepfamily
mediation, homelessness mediation, and ‘all issues mediation’ (mediation
of finance and property matters as well as parenting matters, following separation).
Children’s Groups
Several of the local family mediation services run groups for children in
which they are supported to express their thoughts and feelings in a safe
environment. They meet with other children experiencing their parents
divorce or separation and they are able to support one another through that. In
some services these groups are called ‘Time to Talk’.
Parents Groups
Some of the local family mediation services offer support groups for adults. These may be in the form of a series of workshops exploring the emotional and practical difficulties of divorce and separation. These groups are called ‘Surviving the Break Up’. Some services also offer a one off, 3 hour workshop called ‘Parenting Apart’ where parents can find out how best to support their children through separation – covering the emotional process of separation, children’s different needs at different stages, and what children need to hear..
Children and Young Persons’ Counselling
A few of the local services provide a children and young persons’ counselling service to give children and young people time to explore their thoughts and feelings about changes they may be experiencing in their life due to parental separation, divorce or moving into a stepfamily situation.
Child Contact Centres
Most of the local services provide supported contact at Child
Contact Centres,
which are neutral and welcoming environments where the non-residential
(contact) parent can meet with their child/ren to establish and develop
a good relationship with each other. Contact Centres are particularly
important for families where relationships are poor and help is needed
to avoid parental disagreements spoiling the time that the child/ren and
parent spend together, also where the child has lost or never had much
contact with the non-residential parent. A few services also provide supervised
contact on a one-to-one basis.
Legal Advice Surgery (Grampian only)
If you require legal advice or information, and do not already have a
solicitor, our service in Grampian can arrange for one free appointment
with a solicitor. The appointment will usually take place at the
solicitor’s office. However, there may be some circumstances where the
appointment could be offered at the service. The service can offer you
an appointment with a mediator to discuss your needs. The mediator can
then make an appointment with a solicitor on your behalf.
