Dr Mike Talbot

Leading mediator, trainer, speaker and consultant

When I started UK Mediation back in 1999 the last thing I wanted to do was to replicate what everyone else was doing! Having been a psychotherapist for quite a while, I thought, ‘Well, why not use what I already know to get under the skin of conflict, and to look at resolving it from the inside out?’ So now I’ve got arguably the biggest and most successful mediation company around, and the idea seems to have worked!

The thing is that we struggle to negotiate our way through conflict because we’re so angry, put out, hurt, or impatient that we find it hard not to let emotion get in the way of reason. Communication breaks down, and we get so wrapped up in an interpersonal struggle that we can scarcely remember how the argument got started in the first place. My approach is to understand these conflict processes in great detail, so that we can start to resolve all sorts of disputes much more effectively.

My curiosity about the psychology of conflict has led to a whole load of services and training courses that you won’t find anywhere else. My life’s work has been in understanding where conflict comes from, and how we can get better at resolving it. UK Mediation is my way of making these ideas, services, and courses available for you to use: transforming conflict, building dialogue, and maintaining better relationships.