News

Mediate 2024 Conference: A reflection

With just a week to go before Scottish Mediation’s conference in 2025, and with it being in the middle of the conference season, my thoughts turn back to last year’s mediation conference which was held at the V&A Museum in Dundee. Looking back at my notes and reflecting on the day, some of my thoughts echo something that I have written about in an earlier blog. These are that we are so focused on delivering and developing services, supporting clients and thinking of new ways to help the people that we support, that we rarely take the opportunity to look around at the wider landscape, let alone trumpet our successes from the rooftops.

In looking at the wider landscape and hearing from others in the field, I am reminded of how, at the 2024 conference, we heard from the President of the Mediation Institute of Ireland. The President talked about how mediation has grown over the years in Ireland. We learnt that in recent years mediation has become embedded in some key pieces of legislation. We heard how a key step-change was the Law Reform Commission Report on alternatives to dispute resolution in 2010, which helped begin to shift thinking and set out mediation as an inexpensive and relatively quick way to sort disputes. Since 2010 mediation has become a word that is heard more frequently in Ireland, in international as well as local conflicts. It has a proven track record, with – in one area of mediation - some 70% of cases successfully resolved.

Conferences can offer that opportunity, however uncomfortable we may be about singing our own praises. What may feel to you as self-promotion, is often heard by those in the audience as sharing experience or providing information. One person’s telling of their own journey of discovery, is another person’s moment of revelation. So it is important to go out there, to actively listen but also to shout from the rooftops about the work that you do. Without that, ignorance persists and we can all too easily assume that – just because we haven’t heard about something – it isn’t taking place. Let me give you an example.

Last week I delivered my latest Introduction to Restorative Practice workshop to a group of 13 people, from a range of organisations and sectors. During the section where I talk about the different uses of restorative practice, I spoke briefly of how it can be used in schools, and I was asked to name some examples of where it is currently being used. Much to my annoyance, I was unable to, but said that I would go away and do my research and e-mail them what I discovered. I was only aware of a couple of schools in Scotland where it had been used in the past, and one in the Welsh valleys. Thanks to a couple of colleagues in other organisations, I very quickly got to learn about the work that has been taking place in recent years in Glasgow and Aberdeen and was able to inform the person that had asked the question.

A lesson for me in preparation, but also humility in not being the all-knowing person. It was also an illustration to me of how, even in an area connected to my own work, I can be ignorant of other organisations’ endeavours. So, here’s to those willing to stand on their own professional rooftop and the next group of trumpeters!