Brighton and Hove Independent Mediation Service

What Services do we offer?

Neighbourhood Mediation

Neighbour mediation is a way of resolving disputes between those who live in the same locality or neighbourhood. Disputes may involve issues such as noise, communication breakdown, anti-social behaviour, boundary problems and lifestyle differences, amongst other things. Mediation is not about deciding who is right or wrong, nor about what should or should not have happened in the past. Its main aim is to find some way of improving the present situation.

Time to Talk – Intergenerational Mediation
It’s Time to Talk… Every family has arguments from time to time, particularly teenagers and parents, sometimes this can lead to family breakdown.

Conflict in the family can begin over things such as the young person's choice of friends, lack of respect for coming in times or a change in the family dynamics such as a new step-parent. These issues can be very stressful for families and can lead on to more serious problems if they are not resolved early on.

Power imbalances can be a significant barrier to effective resolution of conflict with parents feeling that the young person should abide by their rules while under their roof and the young person feeling powerless to effect change without support. The involvement of an external person (in this case two mediators) can be vital to restoring positive family relations.

Time to talk helps people to talk and listen to each other, and work towards better communication and understanding.

Time 2 Talk is the name for our Intergenerational Mediation Service. Like other forms of mediation, Time 2 Talk is a staged process, voluntarily entered into, in which young people and their families are empowered to talk and resolve family difficulties. This service is non­directive, impartial, and confidential (subject to child protection requirements) and helps people to talk and listen to each other, and work towards better communication and understanding.

Two impartial mediators facilitate the process, listening and helping to identify the issues and possible ways forward. In addition to facilitating effective communication, it can:

• Reduce isolation
• Enable young people and family members to better understand themselves and how they relate with others
• Improve communication skills
• Assist both parties to find their own solutions and move forward
• Support the rebuilding of links and social networks

Making a referral
We receive referrals from people experiencing problems with others in their communities and from various other sources including:

• Social Housing Landlords/ Housing Associations
• Environmental Health
• Police
• Voluntary & Community organisations and groups

If you represent an agency that has a service level agreement (SLA) with BHIMS you can download our referral form, fill in the details and send it to us via email or post. You can alternatively give us a call if you would like to talk about a possible referral.

If your agency does not currently have a service level agreement with BHIMS and you are interested in arranging one, please contact us to discuss prices, terms and conditions.

Some feedback from referral agencies:
"I am amazed that your team managed to get such a positive result after months of dispute, well done!"
"I found the staff very committed to opening up dialogue between the parties involved"
"A very helpful service which seems to have fully resolved the tenants’ problems, Thank you very much"

Mediation awareness training
As part of our SLA we offer mediation awareness training to referral agencies, which covers topics such as: what is mediation, what happens in a conflict, the mediation process, circumstances most favourable to mediation, how to promote mediation to potential service users and how to refer to mediation.