Relationships Scotland - Family Mediation Highland is part of Scotland’s largest provider of mediation, counselling and child contact services.
Separation or divorce is a difficult enough time for adults, but even more complicated when there are children involved. Here at Relationships Scotland – Family Mediation Highland we believe that parents and families are generally the best placed people to make decisions about their lives and that of their children, but when life is hard we all need a little help.
Our trained mediators help parents who are finding it difficult speak to each other and reach agreement by assisting them to have those difficult conversations in a safe and neutral setting. Mediators do not judge, take sides or tell parents what to do. They work with parents to help them better understand each other, improve communication, take into account the needs and views of their children and work out their own arrangements for the future. The process can help to reduce conflict, helps children to maintain a loving relationship with both their parents, and can prevent long and expensive legal battles.
Children & Young Person’s Counselling
We offer a free Children & Young Person’s Counselling service for young people aged 5-18 who are finding it difficult to adjust to separation or their restructured families. The counsellor uses play, art & craft therapy, or just simply uses talk to encourage and support youngsters to help them understand and manage their feelings, and adjust to the changes in their lives.
Support to Parents
Our Children & Young Person’s Counsellor offers support for parents where children are too young or choose not to use the counselling service. Parents are able to talk through their concerns regarding their children, and work out how they can best support their children through the separation and the changes in their lives.
Child Contact Centre
Our Child Contact Centres are safe, friendly, neutral, child centred environments for children to meet with the parent they no longer live with or wider family members. Staff provide the handover from one parent to the other, so parents do not have to meet one another.
We offer a range of services to enable children and parents to build or maintain relationships and progress at their own pace - they are designed to be a stepping stone to a more permanent arrangement for future contact.
Supported Contact
Contact takes place in a child friendly room, stocked with a wide range of toys and activities.
There may be more than one family using the contact playroom at one time. Support Staff encourage and facilitate positive interaction between children and adults but will not necessarily be in the room at all times.
Supported Handover
The Contact Centre becomes a venue to drop off and pick up children for out of centre contact. Staff facilitate the handover of the child from one parent to the other without the parents ever having to meet.
Supervised Contact
Supervised contact takes place in a child friendly room with a wide range of toys provided for the contact. A trained member of staff will facilitate the handover from one parent to the other and will remain with the child at all times during the contact. There will be no other family using the contact room at the same time. Reports for the court, parents and their solicitors are provided.
Video Contact
Video contact can be provided on either a supported or supervised basis. A member of staff will assist the child at the centre to have contact with their other parent via a video call. The parent and / or wider family that the child is having contact with will require access to the internet and a computer, tablet or smartphone.
Observed Video Contact
Video contact is facilitated remotely via Zoom between children (aged 5 or older) and the parent they do not currently live with or wider family. As staff are observing the contact remotely, the service is only available in circumstances where children will not require physical support during the contact. Children may receive help from an adult to join the call in the first instance, before the contact begins.
This is a pilot project developed during COVID-19 and may be subject to changes in the future.
Digital Postbox
Digital Postbox for parents who would like to be able to update one another about their children, or pass on messages, photos and videos to children and from children, but without having to share their own contact details with one another.
Parenting Apart
We offer guidance and information sessions for parents to find out how to help their children successfully manage the separation and assist parents to begin to think about how they can effectively parent their children together whilst living apart.
The sessions offer a relaxed and informal environment, where parents have the opportunity to talk about their experiences in a confidential setting. Whether in a small group or individually, they will be able to chat with others about what they are going through. It is up to each parents what and how much information they share. Parents who have separated attend different groups, but we try to have a mix of mums and dads in each group.
Find out more via www.relationships-scotland.org.uk, by calling us on 01463 712100, or by emailing us at [email protected].
