Mediation Skills in Family Group Decision Making
Do you work with children, young people, adults and families through Family Group Decision Making? Do you encounter conflict or relationship and communication challenges in your practice? Would you like to build confidence navigating challenging situations through mediation and communication skills? This is the course for you.
Developed in response to feedback from practitioners across the Family Group Decision Making workforce, this course addresses a need for practical skills in managing conflict constructively. Practitioners highlighted particular challenges in supporting families experiencing parental separation, parent-child conflict, and other complex family relationship issues, where differing perspectives and heightened emotions can make constructive decision-making difficult.
Family Group Decision Making often involves facilitating difficult conversations, navigating conflict, and supporting families to work through disagreement in a safe and productive way. Practitioners need the skills to recognise and respond to conflict effectively, facilitate meaningful dialogue, and create the conditions for families to collaborate on solutions.
This interactive two-day course, delivered either virtually or in person, explores mediation skills within a whole-family approach and their application across all stages and models of Family Group Decision Making. Through practical exercises, skills development activities, and case studies, participants will gain experience of applying mediation techniques in realistic situations.
As part of the course, participants will take part in and facilitate a simulated mediation meeting based on a parental separation scenario, providing an opportunity to practise managing conflict, handling challenging conversations, supporting constructive dialogue, and helping family members work towards mutually acceptable outcomes. Participants will leave with increased confidence and practical tools that can be applied directly to their FGDM practice.
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
Demonstrate a clear understanding of mediation values, principles and models, particularly in the context of working with children, young people, adults and families through family-group decision making at all stages.
Facilitate difficult conversations using restorative communication techniques to de-escalate conflict and promote constructive dialogue.
Recognise, assess and respond to conflict safely and effectively, including an understanding of parental separation, child–parent/adolescent conflict, the impact on wider family relationships, and readiness for mediation.
Support individuals and families to resolve disputes collaboratively, enabling them to reach realistic, sustainable agreements.
Challenge behaviours, assumptions and viewpoints appropriately while maintaining empathy, impartiality, professionalism and psychological safety
This course has been developed by an experienced Mediator, Family Group Conference Coordinator and Manager specialising in relational and restorative approaches.
If you’d like to learn more about this, and other available courses before booking please join our next FREE webinar to meet our team and ask questions.
BOOK A COURSE
To book this course for yourself or a colleague, please complete our online booking form. Please note, your place will only be secured once we receive payment or a Purchase Order.
Online (via MS Teams), 2 days, £375 per attendee: 3 & 4 November 2026
Group bookings for organisations – please email training@daybreakfgc.org.uk to enquire