Mediation Skills for Homelessness Prevention

Learn to resolve disputes that could lead to a vulnerable person becoming homeless.

This course has been designed for organisations looking to prevent homelessness caused by breakdowns in family or tenancy relationships. The programme is especially popular with housing professionals with local authorities with responsibility for implementing the Homelessness Reduction Act 2018.

Mediation Skills for Homelessness Prevention aims to train your group to resolve disputes involving vulnerable people in a more structured way, using the proven step-by-step model employed by mediators.

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 that could prevent an individual from becoming homeless.

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 a person at risk of homelessness
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 people who are 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 Homelessness Prevention covers everything you need to be able to facilitate resolution meetings between people in dispute, especially if someone is at risk of homelessness.

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

"I really enjoyed the training and materials provided. The scenarios and examples were useful, there was a good balance of group work and discussion, and the trainer was clear, precise, and very informative."

Pooja Kaur Crisis

"A very informative course - I learnt so much. The trainer went through every stage in depth and then we acted out the scenarios, which was a great way of learning for me. I thoroughly enjoyed it all."

Natalie Le Prevost Action for Children

"This course equipped me with some extremely useful skills and techniques that I'll be able to use when mediating a range of situations. The trainer was wonderful, knowledgeable and extremely supportive, and I would highly recommend this course to anyone that has to deal with conflict."

Federica Ventura Depaul UK

"The course and the trainer were amazing - I definitely learnt a lot of valuable skills that I can use daily in my role. The trainer was super knowledgable and encouraging too - I felt that they relayed the course material really well."

Millie Thomas Mind Pembrokeshire

"It was brilliant! Our trainer was really engaging, very helpful and knowledgeable. I got way more from the course than I expected and will use loads of what I've learnt in lots of different situations."

Clare Waghorn Emmaus Greenwich

"Really worthwhile to take time out of our busy schedule. It was good to look at a service user-focused solution."

Julie Hughes Redditch Nightstop

"There were no areas for improvement! The trainer was fantastic - his knowledge and way of presenting was fab - and I now feel that mediation is a skill that I am able to use in my working practice."

Jade Harrison The Matthew Project

"A really good and enjoyable course. Very informative - it was a lot to take in - but all worthwhile. Great delivery too."

Lisa Sullivan Haven First

"The course was of a very high standard! Challenging, a lot of practice, hard work, but definitely enjoyable!"

Tetiana Khmeliar Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain

"I really enjoyed the practice of being a mediator - wasn't as such a role play, more like "involved learning"! It was also nice to rubber stamp, and understand, the theory behind what we do day in and day out."

Alexander Reece Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

"I really enjoyed the course, and I have learnt lots of transferable skills and ideas that I can apply to my role. In particular, I found the use of linguistics really interesting."

Becki Crozier Flintshire County Council

"I felt the training went really well. The pace wasn't too fast and the videos really helped give you insight in to a lot more techniques to use. I found the course very useful and it will help me to mediate within my current role."

Rachael Lee Salford City Council

"The trainer really knew what they were talking about and kept me engaged throughout. The course was presented very well and this made it easy to follow and understand."

Stephanie Ellis Borough Council of King's Lynn & West Norfolk

"The course was really informative and the materials were really useful. It gave me a better understanding of how I can use mediation in my role."

Zoe Rhodes Stafford Borough Council

"I have thoroughly enjoyed the course and have found it very interesting. I feel I have developed lots of new skills that I can take back to my role and for my personal life also!"

Carly Ward Test Valley Borough Council

"The course couldn't be improved - very, very comprehensive and excellently presented. Left feeling confident enough to do my job role better."

Adrienne Towell Sefton Council

"The course was very good. It highlighted how to make communication constructive and putting the examples into practice was really helpful. I can see it being very helpful in my day-to-day role."

Sophie Pollock West Suffolk Council

"A very interesting course. I loved the videos and role play, which gave a good opportunity to put the strategies into place. This will be very useful in my role and I really enjoyed the training."

Jennie Hunte Breckland Council

"The training was brilliant! The theory work in the book is really useful to have and to be able to refer back to. The role playing also helped put everything we learnt into practice."

Jade Pescod TGP Cymru

"The course has really made me think about how I portray myself and how I come across. The skills I've learnt today will definitely make me a better manager!"

Joanne Jackson Adullam Homes

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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 vulnerable people who are at risk of homelessness, including family workers, counsellors, housing coaches, and tenancy 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 those at risk of homelessness, but you won’t be a Mediator. To gain full accreditation, you would need our Interpersonal Mediation Practitioner’s Certificate course.