Please note: all names have been changed in this story to protect privacy

Maria is a 16-year-old girl who was referred for mediation as part of her Prevention support through OWL. Maria was struggling with her mental health, had moved out of home and her relationship with her mother was strained. She was having frequent arguments with her mum and felt they were “going round in circles”. Maria met with the OWL mediation worker to discuss the process and agreed to mediation. The OWL mediation worker then contacted Maria’s mum to explain what mediation is and how it could help them. Her mum agreed to mediation and said that she would like to get on better with Maria by learning how to more effectively communicate together and how to show each other more respect.

How did the process work?

Mediation sessions were delivered online and Maria and mum were pro-active in attending and engaging with the process. During the sessions they practiced positive ways of communicating and identified specific areas for improvement. The mediation process involved agreeing to spend more time together and identifying shared activities they could enjoy.

Although Maria had previously moved out, by the end of the mediation programme, her mum told Maria she was welcome to come back home as Maria was spending more time at the family home. Maria and mum reported that they were now spending regular quality time together and that they were able to talk to each other respectfully. They also said they are laughing and joking more and Maria’s relationship with her mum’s partner has improved.

Positive Outcomes

Both Maria and mum completed scaling questions at the beginning and end of mediation. Maria’s assessment of her relationship with mum changed from a ‘1’ (Constant arguments) at the beginning to a ‘4’ out of 5. She said “Mediation helped build up our relationship, making us realise that talking is the key. Mum and I are speaking every day now. I’m staying at my sister’s and she calls every day to find out if I need anything and if I’m OK.” Mum also found the experience of mediation positive and rated her relationship with Maria as 5 out of 5 by the end of the support, compared to 1 out of 5 at the beginning. Mum commented “We definitely get on much better now.”

What is mediation? Mediation is a structured interactive process whereby an impartial third party helps two parties resolve conflicts. They do this through trained and specialist communication and negotiation techniques. All participants in mediation are encouraged to actively engage throughout the process.

Interested in how mediation could work for you? Please contact us via the contact page on this website to enquire.