Hi Cher, glad to hear your organisation is positively supporting you. Some thoughts on selecting an appropriate provider - depending on where you are based in the UK:
- you can go for the big hitters such as CEDR and ADR Group, these are good but expensive courses although this may not be an issue depending on the financial support available to you.
- there are other well established names in this field, some of which I would approach with caution (such as Globis and TCM) and some I would recommend (such as CMP Resolution and UK Mediation). I did my conversion from community to workplace mediation with UK Mediation and thoroughly enjoyed the course.
- What I would definitely do is ensure your course is accredited and recognised by big names such as the Civil Mediation Council. There has been a little debate about the value of having membership through the CMC (I'm a member) and if you would also like to join there would be some criteria to meet before your membership application can be accepted. In which case you may want to give them a call and clarify what to look for or avoid. There are other mediator memberships available through other organisations.
- In terms of accrediation courses offered through the Open College Network (OCN) would be very appropriate. Generally speaking colleges local to you may offer mediation courses and provided they are OCN accredited that could be a suitable route as well as being slightly cheaper.

In addition to this please be prepared to do some intensive work, you will probably do a 5 day course, some role playing (for which you will be assessed) and there will be some written work to complete, probably in the form of assignments. So I would aim for an accredited course which you can accommodate around your existing lifestyle and check with the CMC for any hints on what to look for or avoid. Please do contact me privately if you would like to chat off line, I'm very happy to offer a sounding board if needed. :-)

In reply to Clare Marie:

Really appreciate you sharing your experience, Clare :)

Hi Cher

Whenever I have been dealing with a commercial contract that has a dispute resolution clause in it, if mediation is mentioned it always seems to be CEDR that is named.

In reply to Elizabeth Divver:

Thanks Claire & Elizabeth!
Claire thank you for your in depth reply, that's given me food for thought. I'll go away and do some research on those recommended.

Hi Cher. I would agree with what Clare has suggested and would add Consensio Partners as another good one to look at alongside CMP and UK Mediation. I did my training with CEDR and whilst it was excellent CEDR are better known for their commercial mediation expertise and experience (hence Elizabeth's comment that CEDR are normally mentioned in commercial contract resolution clauses). If it is specifically workplace mediation you are interested in then I think you are better off with the companies that specialise in this. A few years back I wrote an article on factors to consider when selecting mediation training. If you want to email me at mr1@mediation4.co.uk I'll send you a copy. Best of luck with the training. Marc.

Hi Cher, hope everything is progressing well. Thought you may like to know UK Mediation are hosting a webinar in September entitled "Becoming a workplace mediator", scheduled for September 22nd, link for the page is:
www.ukmediation.net/.../
And of course a useful webinar for anyone else interested in workplace mediation. :-)

In reply to Clare Marie:

Hi Clare

Thank you for your kind words about UK Mediation and for mentioning our 'Becoming a Workplace Mediator' webinar in September.

If I can help in any way, Cher, do let me know.

James Watson
UK Mediation

In reply to James:

Thank you for all your responses, apologies it has taken me so long to reply, I am having a very tough pregnancy, which has stopped me progressing this further, but I am now going to look through all of the companies and information recommended and see which fits best.

In reply to Cher:

Hi Cher,

Which course did you end up doing? I’ve got the same question now. Thanks,

Sandra