Mediation Skills for Family Relationships

Learn to resolve intra-family disputes using mediation skills.

This course specifically addresses the need of groups who wish to resolve intra-family disputes at the earliest possible stage. The programme is especially popular with those wishing to incorporate mediation skills into their existing roles working with families. This could be as part of a charity organisation or within local authorities.

This course aims to train your group to resolve disputes in a positive way, using the same step-by-step model employed by mediators, and teaches your delegates to resolve all manner of intra-family disputes. Examples featured on the course could include disputes over unwanted behaviour, communication problems, substance abuse, and personality clashes.

About the course

The aim of this two-day course is to get you to the point of being confident and competent to facilitate resolution conversations between family members.

At the conclusion of the course, you will be able to:

Understand how mediation compares with other methods of resolution
What mediation skills can and can’t do, and the sorts of situations it would be beneficial for. Why confidentiality and impartiality are important.
Understand how intra-family conflict starts and how it develops
The signs and symptoms of conflict and the importance of early intervention. Dealing with resistance and getting buy-in to the resolution process.
Use a stage-by-stage model for the resolution of conflict
Exploring UK Mediation’s relational model, re:talk. Encouraging people in and then setting up and running a facilitated resolution process.
Set up and run a facilitated resolution meeting involving family members
Getting people to meet and to have a productive conversation. Managing disruptive behaviour and keeping the discussion on-track.
Understand the skills required for effective conflict resolution
Learning some key mediation skills, including reframing and active listening. Having a go at one of our specially-chosen workplace case examples.
Build agreements between family members in conflict
Creating options for a mutually-beneficial resolution of conflict. Creating an environment that allows parties to come up with their own resolutions.

Mediation Skills for Family Relationships covers everything you need to be able to facilitate resolution meetings between family members in conflict.

This includes:

Some key mediation skills and principles
Applying mediation skills in a step-by-step process
Confidentiality and impartiality when working face-to-face or online
How to get a good resolution without directing or imposing
How to ensure that your facilitated conversations are safe and effective

Our trainers have a wealth of practical mediation experience and are able to adapt the course content to the make-up of the particular group.

All of our courses are live interactive events run by a practising mediator who is an expert in the field.

This course includes a combination of:

Custom-made video clips
Lecture and live discussion
Group exercises

Practice sessions with simulated case material
Real-life case studies

The course is delivered face-to-face at your location, or online via Zoom or Teams, where we can use custom-made video material, run small-group exercises, and take part in some case simulations.

What our learners say

"Overall experience was excellent - really informative and well presented. I really enjoyed the resources provided and it wasn't 'death by Powerpoint', which was great and really appreciated."

Christine Williamson Newport City Council

"I found the training and trainer excellent! It was made fun and was a very positive training session overall. I would recommend to anyone in this line of work."

Melanie Moloney Cornwall Council

"I really enjoyed the training and feel that it will really benefit my current role. The roleplaying and videos were spot on and well paced, and there was some great discussion."

Helen Canning Vale of Glamorgan Council

"I thoroughly enjoyed the training. The trainer was very knowledgeable and patient in explaining all of the methods. This will help me enormously in my role - thank you."

Sharon Wren Durham County Council

"This was an excellent training course! Very informative, interactive, and impactful."

Lisa Henderson South Tyneside Council

"I found the training videos really helpful as they were relevant to the work that my team does. It was good to see how we can use mediation skills in that setting to complement our other skills."

Djamila Aggabi Tower Hamlets Council

"The course worked well - we definitely got what we had set out in our objectives. The days were planned well and the materials were very relevant, which kept us engaged. The facilitator was brilliant too."

Rosie Bedi London Borough of Bexley

"A very good course. I will be able to apply the learning in my role."

Charles Farrell Worcester City Council

"Great training. In particular, learning about reframing will allow us to encourage more positive outcomes."

Yvonne Fearnehough Liverpool City Council

"It was an excellent training course with detailed, interesting, relevant, and accessible content and delivery. We were given the opportunity to practise the skills with detailed feedback at every stage, and I've come away with some real skills that I can take away with me."

Beatrice Brooke Caring for Communities and People

"The trainer was extremely knowledgeable and shared some of their own experiences, which made me think about things differently. I found the course extremely useful."

Faye Scott Bridges Outcomes Partnerships

Get a quote

Want to find out more or get a quote from us?

We're a friendly bunch at UK Mediation and we're always happy to talk about our training courses.

Whether you're interested in a specific course of ours, or if you would just like some friendly advice, just fill out the form and we'll get straight back to you.

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Course FAQs

We understand that you may have some queries about the course’s content or about how the training is delivered.

We’ve gathered together some of the most Frequently Asked Questions and have answered them below.

Who should attend this course?

This two-day course would be suitable for those who work with families, perhaps in Family Group Conferencing roles or as Social Workers.

No previous experience with conflict resolution is required in order to attend.

Will I be a mediator after doing this course?

No, we are careful to distinguish our shorter courses from our accredited mediator programmes.

What we say is that this course will you how to facilitate resolution meetings involving family members, but you won’t be a Mediator. To gain full accreditation, you would need our Interpersonal Mediation Practitioner’s Certificate course.

Does this course cover divorce and separation?

No, this is an area that we do not work in and, therefore, do not provide training for.

Our work - and this course, in particular - focuses on families that are wanting to stay together (repairing the relationship) and where there are no issues of a financial or legal matter.