Relationships Scotland, the biggest provider of family and relationship support in the country, is asking the Scottish Government, charities and family law experts to back their calls to make mediation the first choice for divorcing parents to prevent thousands of kids being stuck in the middle of court action.   Research shows that parental conflict…

Read More

As the seasons change and winter arrives in the Highlands, the mountains turn white, the gritters are out and the Christmas lights are switched on we know that Christmas is fast approaching. This is a time of high expectation, anticipation and excitement but Christmas often does not match up to our hopes. This is a…

Read More
pouring water in to a glass

I recently undertook Core Solution’s Flagship ‘Mediation, Negotiation and Conflict Management Skills’ Course. Having been with Relationships Scotland for over 7 years, I had been very keen to explore both counselling and mediation from a practitioners viewpoint. By chance, mediation presented the first opportunity. Here’s what I learned: For many years I have found significant…

Read More
Scottish Parliament

Guest blog post by Morag Chisholm, Counsellor & Treasurer at Relationships Scotland Dumfries & Galloway Politicians both sides of the border are fond of extolling the virtues of family values, often without taking time to understand the complexities of modern relationships. MSPs at our recent Parliamentary event instead chose listening and learning with third and…

Read More

A brief guest post from Rosanne Cubitt, Head of Professional Practice at Relationships Scotland, offering her thoughts on the controversy surrounding Penelope Leach’s new book – ‘Family Breakdown’. A heated debate has been sparked by Penelope Leach’s new book, ‘Family Breakdown’. Let’s be very clear that at Relationships Scotland we disagree with a presumption that overnights with the other…

Read More
Sydney Bridge

This is special guest blog post from Lauren Ferguson, 4th Year LLB Law (Honours) Student at Glasgow Caledonian University. Lauren’s post examines international perspectives in family mediation as a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Lauren’s views do not necessarily reflect those of Relationships Scotland. Mediation has become a widely recognised method of alternative dispute resolution. Putting an…

Read More
Robin Waterston

Robin Waterston is Relationships Scotland’s longest serving mediator – working with families in Tayside and Fife for 25 years. He’s kindly taken time out of his day to speak to us about some of the challenges and joys of being a family mediator. Robin was brought up in St. Andrews. He gained a PhD in…

Read More
Mum and daughter playing

Guest post from Rosanne Cubitt, Joint Head of Professional Practice at Relationships Scotland. Mediation is, essentially, a voluntary process in which parties are helped to communicate, negotiate and make their own decisions. There is no compulsion to agree and no decision imposed. So what is ‘mandatory mediation’? The term is normally used as a short…

Read More
Options screenshot

Guest blog post from Rosanne Cubitt, Joint Head of Professional Practice at Relationships Scotland. Child Maintenance is changing – charges are being introduced in 2014 for the use of the statutory service (previously the CSA, Child Support Agency). There are routes to avoid the charges. The preferred option is to set up a private arrangement,…

Read More