CALM NEWSLETTER Winter 2012

Here youll find out what CALM have been up to: Highlights for the Year page 1 Encouraging tenants to use mediation tips for Housing Officers page 2 The Year in Numbers for service activities page 2 Comments from service users page 3 AGM & welcome to a new team member page 3

Highlights for 2012

By Corinne Rechais, CALM Director

Confidential And Local Mediation Unit 10, Berghem Mews, Blythe Road, London, W14 0HN Tel No: 020 7603 4014 Fax: 020 7603 9033 E-mail: infocalm@calmmediation.org

Produced by Andrea Perry & Fiona Turner

WELCOME to the Winter CALM Newsletter.

Its been quite a year: the team members have been robust, optimistic and ready for anything.
(Above right is a photo of CALM staff at the summer volunteer picnic.)

This year were delighted to welcome Cecilia to the team during a busy and productive year. We hope she will have an enjoyable and fruitful time with us. This year we are also delighted that 24 mediators have been trained by the CALM staff, and have achieved accreditation with the Open College Network. Congratulations to you all: as everyone who has done the training knows, its hard work, and your accreditation is well deserved. CALM have been successful in securing funding to continue the Crime Prevention Workshops in schools for 2013, informing young people about the consequences of crime and how it impacts on victims. Finally, Littlehey Prison and Young Offenders Institution, has contracted CALMs services to help develop their Restorative Justice Service. We look forward to enabling this work to develop in 2013 and to letting you know about its progress.
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Encouraging Tenants to try Mediation

By Heather Loebl, LBHF Co-ordinator To help Housing Officers, I have put together some tips to help overcome residents reasons for not wanting mediation. Try giving these responses to your tenants. I dont want to sit in a room with my neighbour... The first step is to describe any issues you have and only if you both agree, then you meet. You can back out at any time if you dont want to continue. A very high percentage of those who do meet get some sort of resolution (94%), so it is worth meeting and giving it a try. Mediation isn't about becoming friends with your neighbour You are just refusing to take any action... We like to use mediation because it generally works. We pay for this service and wouldnt use it if it didnt have some success. We would like you to speak to your neighbour directly so that you can come to a solution you both agree on. You should just tell them to stop doing xyz... We have discussed it with them but, from our experience, if the initial conversation/letter doesnt improve things, then further letters/meetings are unlikely to work and can often make things worse by increasing tensions. You should take them to court... Well need to show the court that theres unreasonable behaviour and the vast majority of household noise is because people dont understand how sound travels and how their behaviour impacts on others. The court process can be lengthy, difficult and stressful, whereas mediation is only up to four hours of your time.
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The Year in Numbers from April 2011- March 2012

By Fiona Turner, Restorative Justice Co-ordinator
CALM received 199 mediation cases, we worked with residents providing mediations and workshops for:

Community Support

Mediations

468 residents

40 agreements

Crime Prevention Workshops

161 young people

Training
91 Professionals
(Awareness training for Magistrates, Housing, Probation & Police Officers)

24 Accredited Mediators
(Community volunteers)

12 Volunteer Workshops
(Continued skills development for volunteer mediators)

The Year in the view of Community Mediation Service Users

See below feedback from our evaluation forms:
I will recommend to others to use the service that CALM provides, it was really helpful I was relieved and pleasantly surprised by the session....my experience was one of neutrality and nonjudgementalism It has totally changed my outlook on mediation and I now recommend it, the name 'calm' is very fitting

were: Peter Hannon Housing Director from Hammersmith & Fulham, Ben Waters from Christ Church University, Elena Noel Hate Crime Mediation Consultant, Letitia Stenning MD of Stenning UK & Workplace Mediator, Charles Swallow CALM Trustee and Heather Loebl, CALM Co-ordinator. Letitia Stenning spoke of the magic moments, when parties in dispute start working together to resolve their difficulties. The panel members spoke of the publics lack of knowledge of mediation and the scepticism of its value. However mediation is becoming better known and recognised as a valuable intervention, especially by Housing Providers. We have no idea how we will top this years AGM but we will. See you all next year.

Restorative Justice Service Users

Thank you all, you have brought a closure we never thought possible. (Victim) Ive analysed my 50 years of crime. During that time I must have caused a lot of hurt and pain. Not only to X and her family. But also to other victims of crime a great burden has been lifted from my shoulders. (Offender) I have been emotionally scarred by the assault, I am glad to hear he was remorseful. Thank you (Victim) There was a clear understanding from the beginning what I wanted to achieve through the mediation process and it was accomplished. I am grateful and always will be .... Thank you. (Offender)

Welcome Cecilia Popa

We are pleased to announce that in September 2012 Cecilia Popa, came to CALM through a European Commission programme, called Lifelong Learning Grundtvig Assistantship. She is helping us with Mediation Training for probation officers, prisons, volunteers, housing associations and other agencies and general tasks in the office. She is from Romania and has an educational and professional background in criminal justice. We are hoping to learn some Romanian too!

The Annual General Meeting

By Marcia Brown, Community Mediation Co-ordinator CALM has always had good attendance at our AGM and this years AGM, in September, surpassed our expectations. We were especially honoured by the Mayor of Hammersmith and Fulham, Cllr Belinda Donovan, speaking at the AGM. We had an interesting panel discussion where several people shared interesting views on Mediation. On the discussion panel 3

Thank you to all the funders and professionals and volunteers who work with CALM. We wish you health & happiness in 2013!
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