Online Mediation
Traditionally family mediation was always conducted face to face in a mediation suite, however, for obvious reasons, with the emergence of Covid-19, this ceased. Until this point, online mediation was only used in cases where people were living a great distance apart, had unusually heavy work commitments or perhaps child care issues. It was also a method considered when face to face mediation was impractical to consider due to a particularly traumatic or high conflict split where one person may not have felt comfortable being in the room with their former partner.
Online mediation is now the default method we use for both MIAM and mediation sessions and we have done so since March 2020 with excellent client feedback.
Booking an online assessment or mediation session
Booking an appointment with us is simple and you will find a button ‘make a referral’ on the left side of each of the pages on our site. Alternatively, you may call our office to make an appointment or complete our referral form which you can find here.
On the morning of your appointment, we will send you a link which you ‘click’ and will be taken to the meeting. We normally use Zoom for this but can use other programs if required.
Requirements
- You must have access to either a smartphone, tablet, PC or laptop capable of running ‘Zoom‘
- You must be able to use the application, we suggest conducting a trial with a friend.
- We will only conduct online mediation if you agree not to audio or video record the session.
- You must have somewhere private and quiet that you can use for the session/s where you will not be disturbed. You will be asked to confirm that your end of the call is completely private and that you are alone in the room.
- Any documentation you are relying upon for a legal aid assessment must be provided to us prior to the session in order for us to be able to conduct the legal aid assessment accurately. We accept screen shots, photographs or scanned copies.
That may seem daunting, but it is quite straight forward and you will find that online mediation is an effective mediation facilitation tool.
Pricing
If you qualify for legal aid, there will be no cost to you. If you are not entitled to legal aid, the pricing for mediation sessions is available on our ‘fees’ page. You can find this page by clicking here.
