As part of Calm Mediation’s commitment to ongoing learning and support for our volunteer mediators, we recently held a ‘Group Supervision Session’ focused on the Permission to Share model. It’s a practical tool Dave Walker MBE, Calm Mediation’s Director of Mediation adopted from his work as a Family mediator in the 90’s.
This was the latest in our series of regular practitioner development sessions, previously known as Informal Conversations and now held under the banner of Group Supervision Sessions. These gatherings, open to all our neighbour and community mediators, are designed to deepen skills, share experiences, and build confidence so that everyone can apply different approaches in real-life cases.
Our most recent session, held in May, drew an impressive 14 attendees — reflecting a growing interest in peer learning across the team. The focus was on revisiting the Permission to Share model, which many of our mediators had encountered in an earlier training session with Dave.
Dave himself joined the conversation and provided invaluable insight. He elaborated on how the model can be used to prepare clients for joint meetings — especially those who are anxious or hesitant — by gradually sharing information, which in turn helps to builds trust between parties. The approach also allows mediators to pass along ‘golden nuggets’ of positivity between clients. This works to help defuse tension and humanise conflict from the outset and increases the number of cases that go to a joint mediation session.
“Dave says it’s a way of ‘softening up’ clients for the idea of meeting in the same room,” explained Jo Winters, who facilitated the session. “He told us It really helps to create a constructive tone early on, even when emotions are running high.”
Dave also worked with the group to develop how Calm’s neighbour mediators might adopt this model more broadly, and what kind of support they would need to do so effectively.
“This session is just one example of how Calm Mediation is continuing to invest in the developing practitioners by offering regular, reflective spaces to enhance practice and build a supportive learning community.”
Dave Walker MBE.
Looking ahead, our next Group Supervision Session will focus on ‘Getting the most out of a next steps meeting.’ and will take place on Monday 16th June, 6.30–8 pm.
As always, mediators are welcome to suggest topics and bring their experiences to the table.
