As part of Mediation Awareness Week, Director of PJW and Principle of Workplace Hub at ADR-ODR, Pamela Whitehead, is supporting ADR-ODR International in the awareness events it is holding. On Tuesday 17th October, the organisation held an event to showcase what family mediation involves and offers viewers a ‘snapshot’ of what is involved. Held at the BPP Law School in Holburn, the family mediation session also marked the opening of the family mediation hub.

Family mediation is the means of resolving conflict that arises before, during and after a divorce or separation with a significant other. The mediation is usually undertaken in order to come to a mutual agreement on certain aspects of the prior relationship. This agreement can be on anything from the house to arranging what happens to the children. A trained mediator normally arranges a neutral environment to undertake the meetings and works to resolve the conflicts that have arisen.

In the Simulation put together by ADR-ODR, it is  hosted by Cressida Burnet, who is the Principle of the new Family Mediation Hub at ADR-ODR. Joining her were three barristers who are all trained mediators trained in either commercial or family mediation, they will be taking on the role of the family members who require mediation.

In the simulation, the meetings with clients were shortened in the interest of covering all of the topics. In family mediation, meetings are normally sessional and can last from an hour to two hours. In this particular simulation,  Cressida and the barristers portrayed individual pre-mediation meetings which allows the mediator to meet the clients and gauge the situation. Also included is a mediation session regarding family finances and another regarding child arrangements.

Below you can find the full stream of the Family Mediation event from the 17th October 2017.


If you’re interested in the Mediation Awareness Week events, keep an eye out on the ADR-ODR Facebook page or stay tuned to our Facebook and Twitter page for updates after the event, just like this one. Here is the list of upcoming events:

  • 18th October 2017 17:00-18:00: Disruptive Mediation… a look at online mediation
  • 19th October 2017 16:00-18:00: Civil-Commercial Mediation Simulation

To find out more about Pamela’s work in ADR-ODR click here or to understand more about mediation and how it is used in business you can read our introduction to mediation week blog:

Don’t Bury Your Head in The Sand This Mediation Awareness Week