Make a referral

Referrals can be made directly to the service by parent/carers, parent partnership services, schools or local authorities (LAs).

Contact us by phone on 0161 283 4836 or contact us

What to expect

When we receive your referral, we will contact you to discuss mediation and what it can offer. We will explain the process so you know what to expect.

We have an enquiry form that the DRS administrator will fill in during the course of the conversation. We will ask for some basic personal information and brief details about the disagreement that you would like to try to resolve.

The DRS Administrator will then contact the other relevant parties to ask for their agreement to attend mediation. The Mediator will contact all parties prior to the meeting to establish the key issues of the disagreement.

We will keep you informed of progress and ensure that the date and time for the meeting is convenient. We will arrange a neutral venue that is as central as possible for all parties.

A mediation meeting is informal and will take approximately two hours. This is dependent on the complexity of issues and may consist of individual and group discussion, but the Mediator will direct you as the meeting progresses.

Following the meeting, we will send a copy of the signed outcome statement to all parties. 

The timeframe for arranging mediation can vary greatly as it is entirely dependent on the availability of the people who need to attend and the complexity of the issues. This will be discussed further when you contact us.