I completed the foundation training in mediation in November 2019, whilst I was working as a full-time senior family support officer in Leeds. During the early part of 2020, pre-lockdown, I was in the process of getting to know my professional practice consultant who had introduced the idea of a traineeship with Family Maters Mediation. My meeting with Juliette at Family Matters was delayed due to the COVID pandemic and everything appeared to shut down.
In May 2020, Juliette and I met, and we discussed an opportunity to apply for a traineeship at Family Matters, which I took up without hesitation. Its traineeship is structured to meet the needs of a newly qualified mediator working towards Family Mediation Council accreditation (the professional qualification for mediators). Family Matters provided observation and the real learning began. I realised how much confidence I had lost since the foundation training and it took some time to re-build it. Juliette and her team of experienced family mediators supported me, gave me excellent mediation observations and guidance that improved my experiential knowledge. I have never looked back and believe that joining Family Matters’ training programme was one of the best decisions I have ever made.
Delays caused by the COVID pandemic, and the fact I was working full-time and not in a legal practice, makes me I believe that, without the traineeship, I would have fallen by the wayside and my dream of becoming a mediator would have been lost.
The next step has been to give up my full-time role in family support to concentrate on achieving accreditation. This decision has been possible because of the enormous amount of practical and emotional support provided by Family Matters’ mediators and the team as a whole. I feel confident that I will succeed and be a good family mediator.
LORRAINE MACNAY (1562T)
