Neighbour Mediation Manager, John Naldrett meets our newly appointed Neighbour Co-ordinator Camille Privé. Together they are responsible for working with our panel of trained volunteer mediators to quickly and constructively resolve disputes between neighbours and in neighbourhoods.
Camille, it’s a pleasure to have you onboard at Calm. Tell us a little about your background, and what made you want to join the team at Calm Mediation?
It’s a pleasure to be here and I have really enjoyed my first few weeks at Calm Mediation.
Job-wise, I was doing something completely different prior to working at Calm. I was working as an Intelligence Analyst and whilst I was able to follow global conflicts closely, I wasn’t able to do anything to directly influence them. That was a big reason I wanted to work for Calm – I wanted to work with people directly and be part of helping them resolve their conflicts.
Academics-wise, I graduated from the University of Exeter in 2021 reading Arabic and International Relations. It was a great course that I thoroughly enjoyed and taught me a lot about political conflict, global crises and much more.
Last year, I completed a course in International Peacebuilding which was very inspirational and has really motivated me to work for peace within the communities around me – another reason I wanted to work for Calm Mediation on the Neighbour team. I really believe in civilian led peacebuilding, which places civilians at the forefront of resolving their own conflict, regardless of the scale, through non-violent conflict resolution methods. During the course I gained a deeper understanding on what mediation was and aspired to become a mediator myself.
I wanted to work at Calm Mediation because I really believe in Calm Mediation’s mission and I wanted to work for an organisation that is working to transform conflict and improve the lives of those finding themselves in a dispute.
You’ve recently completed your 6-day training course as a Community/Neighbour Mediator with Calm. How did you find that experience?
I really enjoyed the course, it really built my confidence progressively and by the end of it although I felt nervous, I felt ready for the assessment. The course leaders were fantastic, creating a supportive environment in which to learn in, and their passion for mediation really shone through.
The course was challenging and really got me out of my comfort zone, which I appreciated. I found staying neutral, impartial and not giving opinions quite a shift as we are so used to doing the opposite in our day to day lives. I certainly found that quite challenging but also very rewarding when done correctly.
The course was perfectly designed, and I loved the balance between actively learning the skills and studying them. I particularly enjoyed being able to participate in mock mediations – both as the mediator and a client.
For anyone wanting to become a mediator, I could not recommend this course more – it is brilliant!
At the time of writing, you’ve been working here for three weeks. What are your first impressions of working at Calm Mediation?
My first impressions is that Calm Mediation is a really interesting and dynamic place to work with a really supportive team. Everyone at Calm has been so welcoming and I am really excited for the future.
I am really enjoying working with John getting to know the ins and outs of Neighbour Mediation – although there certainly has been a lot to learn. And, although some of the conversations with clients have been difficult the work has been really rewarding so far.
Has anything surprised you about working in Neighbour Mediation?
Even though neighbourhood conflicts often touch on similar subjects, each dispute is unique in it’s own way and has its own complexities and dynamics. I think that really speaks to how flexible mediation needs to be to solve conflict and the impressive skills of our mediators able to adapt to the needs of each case.
The other thing I have been surprised by is how difficult it can be to get clients to mediation – that will certainly take some getting used to on my part as well as some resilience and building on my persuasive skills.
What excites you about the future at Calm?
I think I am most excited about learning much more about mediation and working with the rest of the team to learn about their branches of mediation. Having just become a mediator myself I am also very excited about mediating with Calm too.
It’s a really exciting time to have joined Calm Mediation as the organisation is growing and I am looking forward to being part of that and contributing all I can.
Overall, I am really looking forward to contributing to bringing about change and peace in the communities around me.
