Mediation Certification and Qualification

The CAOS Conflict Management approach to mediation certification and follow-up support via its training courses and other activities is outlined on this page.

Many people interested in becoming a Mediator look for the answers to questions such as:

How do I become a Qualified Mediator?

How do I become a Certified Mediator?

How can I become an Accredited Mediator?

In the UK at present there is no national qualification in Mediation and because of the many different approaches to the process it may be some time before one exists.

For more information on Mediation Accreditation Click Here to get the 'low down' on this ambiguous issue in the mediation world.

Alternatively, read this post on 'Mediation Accreditation - Red Herring, Rip Off or Real Sign of Quality?

What will matter for anyone wanting to become a mediator is whether any training in mediation gives them an insight into the thinking behind the process, the skills to carry it out and ongoing support beyond their training to enable them to continually review and improve their practice.

Mediation Certification from CAOS Conflict Management

Our Mediation Practitioners Certificate and Conflict Coaching Practitioners Certificate show that a trainee has learned the CAOS approach to mediation or conflict coaching. It does not 'qualify' someone to mediate and nor does any other training course in these skills as it is presently possible for anyone to set themselves up as a Mediator or Conflict Coach without training.

This reflects the fact that mediation and conflict coaching are new and, in many senses, quite radical approaches to helping people to communicate and respond to conflict more effectively and so it can sometimes prove difficult to clarify exactly what a mediator does as there are so many variations in how mediation is practised.

Our mediation certification is therefore to identify that someone has learned our approach to this process, which is underpinned by a set of Underlying Philosophies that are outlined in our training and used throughout our practise as a Conflict Management organisation.

Mediators learn a set of practical Principles of Effective Communication and Conflict Resolution that give them a framework and clear structure through which to provide mediation. These have come from a long history of application in community mediation and many other areas in which mediation is practised.

These Underlying Philosophies and the Principles were developed and used throughout the last 18 years by Alan Sharland and with his Associates at CAOS Conflict Management when they worked in a Community Mediation Service in West London UK, and they have formed the basis of their mediation practise in a range of different areas including complaints, workplace disputes, group disputes, neighbour disputes, education related disputes such as Special Educational Needs disputes and others and, in turn they have provided the basis for their mediation skills training course.

If you gain mediation certification through CAOS Conflict Management you will become part of the Learning Community of Mediators that it supports. Being part of that community gives you access to activities such as:

• Mediation Support Sessions - where mediators can review their experience on cases and use the opportunity to learn to improve practise and to learn from others' experiences.
• Mediation Themed Training events - usually an evening event held on a particular theme of practise relating to mediation that has been requested by a CAOS mediator. These are not 'talks' but are interactive opportunities to explore the particular theme for direct application in mediation practise beyond the event.
• Marketing Support - beyond the training, or even before attendance, we help mediators who we train, to market and publicise their activities either through our own marketing or we help them to set up their own marketing activities through twitter, linked in, Facebook, youtube, and via a website, etc.

Some organisations have suggested that their mediation training 'qualifies' trainees to become mediators but this is not quite accurate. What it usually means is that it is a necessary qualification for trainees to work for the organisation within its own framework for providing mediation, but this will not be the only framework through which mediation can be provided.

We hope that you find our website and this page to be 'up-front' about the situation.

CAOS Conflict Management mediation certification is not 'necessary' in order for someone to work as a mediator but it indicates that the person has been trained in an approach to the mediation process that has had direct practical application in hundreds of mediation cases around neighbour disputes, workplace disputes, family disputes, group disputes, NHS complaints, university student complaints, homelessness disputes, Special Educational Needs disagreements and others over the past 12-15 years.

To find out more about our Mediation Skills Training Course, click the link below:

Leave the Mediation Certification page to find out more about our Mediation Skills training course