Volunteering with the PMS
The Portsmouth Mediation Service (PMS) welcomes enquiries from individuals interested in carrying out activities on a volunteer (unpaid) basis for the Service.
Being a Mediator with the PMS is the main option, although very occasionally some Office duties and Project tasks may be available within the PMS Office.
Contact the PMS to find out if there are any opportunities currently available.
Volunteer Mediator
Being a Volunteer Mediator is a form of professional activity and is not something into which an individual may just “drop in” from time to time, or just for a very limited period of time. It requires training leading to Accreditation and also practice in Mediation, with Continuous Professional Development (CPD). All new Mediators begin with the PMS in dealing with Neighbour Mediation Cases.
Mediators:
- facilitate communication between people in dispute, so that the people can focus on their behaviours and resolve differences
- follow a process, seeing people individually and then bringing them together
- listen and assist individuals to find ways forward for themselves.
Individuals offering to volunteer as a Mediator with the PMS must:
- be able and willing to visit people in their own homes (which may include, for example, high-rise flats, houses accessed by relatively long pathways, houses with animals running around and items scattered about, etc.)
- be able and willing to operate throughout the PMS’s core catchment area (including, at the least, the Local Authority areas of Portsmouth City, Havant Borough, Fareham Borough, Gosport Borough, and Chichester District)
- offer a least five hours a month on a flexible basis (to meet appointment times set by the PMS)
- be committed to giving at least two years service, following initial training, to the PMS
- participate fully in Continuous Professional Development (CPD) activities
- be at least eighteen years of age.
The PMS does not look for formal academic qualifications or business experience when recruiting Volunteer Mediators. The key qualities required are an interest in people and an ability to listen to people and to speak in ways which are appropriate and understandable to them.
For individuals already holding a Mediation qualification acceptable to the Portsmouth Mediation Service, some of the above criteria might not apply.
Being a Volunteer Mediator with the PMS offers individuals:
- training leading to a nationally recognised qualification (OCN Level 3), transferable to other agencies, etc.
- opportunities to act in partnership with like-minded individuals
- a chance to volunteer in a non-manual / physical “hands-on” setting.
- chance to demonstrate to potential employers additional, newly-learnt skills
- chance to evidence to potential employers ability to manage diaries and follow organisational requirements, as well as maintaining commitment to an organisation
- Continuous Professional Development (CPD) opportunities
- Participation in occasional social events with other PMS Volunteer Mediators.
Refer to the Section on “Training Services” for information about the six-days Accredited Mediator Training Course which individuals (not already holding an appropriate qualification acceptable to the PMS) wishing to become Volunteer Mediators with the PMS are required to undertake.