Peer mediation has been buzzing over this past year! In a world where conflict is so often viewed as something that is inevitably violent, our peer mediators constantly show us that conflict can be a space for positive change if handled with mediation tools and communication skills that enable us to act in more collaborative, less violent ways.
And lucky for us, these peer mediators now exist all across Scotland! Since October 2021 we have been working very closely with Our Minds Matter Fife in order to implement peer mediation training across every primary and high school in Fife. In January 2023, we finished the initial phase of this project by wrapping up our training in all the primary schools within Fife- training over 430 students from 103 schools. It was such a gift to be able to work at the primary schools and to see peer mediation offered on this scale- an unprecedented achievement in terms of peer mediation in Scotland. If you want to read a bit more about the incredible outcomes of these trainings, take a peek at the reports below!
But, we didn’t stop there! Continuing to collaborate closely with Our Minds Matter, we have now been working since October 2023 to train young people to be peer mediators across all 18 high schools in Fife by December 2024! Having already trained young people at five different high schools, we are well on our way to ensuring that both primary and high school students in Fife have the conflict resolution skills needed in order to better relationships, confidently manage conflict using the stages of mediation, increase their own empathy, emotional intelligence, and ability to understand conflict resolution.
We are so grateful to be able to spend so much time in Fife, and have also expanded our peer mediation reach even further! Funded in part through a grant from the Gannochy Trust, we have been fortunate to train young people at Kinross High, along with primary students from 5 primary schools around Crieff and Kinross. In this next year, we will continue to expand into more high schools and primary schools around Perth and Kinross.
But that’s not all! Whispers of peer mediation seem to be traveling far and wide, with requests for training spreading from Glasgow and West Lothian to Angus and Aberdeen, so we’ve hopped in our car or on the train and taken training to wherever we have been called!
Everywhere we go, we are always so inspired by the young people that we get to train alongside. The skills that they have, and the way they are enhanced when they become peer mediators, give us real hope for a future in which conflict is handled with empathy, understanding, and compassion. A way of conflict management that allows for regenerative, rather than punitive ways of being in relationship with one another.
If you are interested in having peer mediation delivered in your schools, please reach out to us! We’d love to connect and see how we can best support.
To have a look at our executive summary please click HERE
And for our peer mediation report please click HERE
In the meantime, thanks for reading and happy mediating!