Calm’s Director of Development, Freddie De Luca, was delighted to chair this panel which considered how restorative approaches can make a difference from our grassroots communities to our highest courts. It highlighted how these restorative options can unclog the courts and reduce damage to relationships.
The beauty of this session was that the esteemed panellists covered such a breadth of our communities, from primary schools to the Court of Appeal, bringing their individual experience of the power of mediation to get results in each area.
Our Panellists:
- Kelly Stricklin-Coutinho – Chair, Civil Mediation Council, Barrister and Mediator, 39 Essex Chambers
- Sophy Miles – Mediator at Doughty Street Chambers
- Avril McIntyre – Charity CEO & Place Shaper
- Roger Mitchell – Head of Ripple School, Barking and Dagenham
We asked Kelly and Sophy “The Court system is embracing mediation in a way that it hasn’t done before, what is behind that?” and “How do resolutions through mediation differ from court resolutions…what can mediation achieve which isn’t possible through court?”
From their responses it was clear that there have been significant shifts in the civil justice system’s approach to mediation – from the landmark Churchill vs Merthyr Tydfil case (in which the Court of Appeal ruled that the courts can stay proceedings to order parties in dispute to engage in ADR, including mediation – Kelly was one of the legal team for that case) to the recent application of a mediation scheme for Small Claims matters.
Behind that is an appetite for fresh approaches, not just to cut the long waiting times for courts but also to consider the outcomes achieved in comparison to other approaches. Sophy outlined the impact of being able to include an apology as an outcome and we also heard about the creativity of resolution options available through mediation, which are not available through the court rulings.
The other key factor is the impact on relationships. After a mediation process, clients usually walk away feeling pleased with the result and, in many cases, able to continue a relationship with the other participants. After a court process, where there has often been a win/lose outcome, even the ‘winner’ may not feel that the cost and imposed judgement meets their underlying needs.
We then turned to how restorative approaches can be embedded through communities, encouraging a ‘resolution’ mindset before things get as far as the formal ‘justice system’. Avril and Roger explained how their experiences of Peer Mediation at Ripple Primary school were part of a larger project where the Mediation scheme can be extended to a local secondary school and the parent community.
Having the skills being regularly practised by a well-trained and supported team, is central to community-building & community resilience.
Roger was able to share anecdotes from Ripple Primary (an ‘emotionally available school’) which reflected the level of development, from a small team of trained students to a wider cultural impact across the school community.
“Being on a panel with legal professionals and a community leader and seeing the parallels between their experiences and my own in education. We need to cross pollinate.” – Roger Mitchell, Head of Ripple School
The Panellists left us with a strong sense that the landscape for restorative approaches is changing – there is an appetite for these highly effective skills and their wide range of outcome options, to be more widely available at every individual and societal level – to reduce cost & harm while improving long-term relationships. Thanks to each Panel member and we look forward to seeing the progress that they, and Calm Mediation, make over the next couple of years, so that ‘Why Mediation?’ is no longer a question to be asked.
