Build internal capability
Set up your own mediation service
As a mediation development organisation, this is the work we were founded to do: helping organisations build an internal mediation service that meets professional standards and actually gets used.
Why organisations do this
Bringing in an external mediator for every dispute is expensive and slow. Organisations that handle a steady volume of internal conflict — health trusts, councils, universities, large employers — usually reach a point where it makes more sense to build the capability inside.
It is not simply a matter of training a few people. An internal service that nobody trusts, or that sits awkwardly beside the grievance procedure, will not be used. The design matters as much as the training.
What the support can include
Every organisation is different, so we customise this through careful consultation rather than selling a package.
Your mediation team
Training your mediators to meet professional standards, with a recognised qualification behind it.
Embedding the service
How mediation sits alongside your other internal processes, and how the team and its cases are managed day to day.
The wider organisation
Conflict skills and mediation awareness for staff who are not mediators but need to know when to refer.
Supervision & reflective practice
Case consultation supervision and reflective practice for your mediators — the thing that keeps standards from drifting.
Mentoring and coaching
Ongoing support for your team as the service establishes itself.
Co-working the first cases
An experienced mediator working alongside your internal team on their first few cases, so nobody is thrown in cold.
The design matters as much as the training. A service nobody trusts will not be used.
Thirty years of it
We have been doing this since before internal mediation services were common in Northern Ireland, and we run live cases ourselves every week. The advice comes from practice, not theory.
Next step
Come and talk to us about what you need
This always starts with a conversation rather than a proposal. What you need depends on the volume and type of conflict you deal with, what processes already exist, and how much appetite there is internally.