Referral Guidelines

The following guidelines are provided as a guide only. If you have concerns about the suitability about a referral, please contact Farzan Ahmed on 01422 322164.

Either a referring agency or the clients themselves can refer neighbourhood dispute cases. However, CALM does ask that the following guidelines be adhered to before a case is referred.

When referring neighbour dispute cases to Calderdale Mediation, it would be helpful if you would use the following guidelines:

1      TRY to get all the parties to consent to make the referral.  Mediation
is a voluntary process and the parties are free to call a halt at any
time.

It is important that all involved parties agree to mediation or it will
probably fail as mediation has to be a two-way process. However,
a referral can still be made even if one party is not consenting at the
time of referral. This must be made clear on the referral form so that
CALM can approach them in an appropriate manner and explain the
process in more detail to see if they are willing to Mediate.

2        It is useful if the case is referred at as early a stage of the problem
as possible. This reduces the risk of the problem growing and
increases the overall chances of mediation being successful.

3        Ensure that the parties understand that:

a)       They are under no obligation to agree to mediation and that
refusing mediation does not affect any rights that they have,
including their rights as tenants, and that a refusal to
Mediate is not necessarily an indication of "guilt".

b)       CALM is, and will remain, totally neutral and the order in
which we see them has no significance for the case.

c)       We are an independent organisation and have no authority
to make recommendations to you. Any agreements reached
are reached by the parties themselves.

d)       We have no power to enforce a settlement.

e)            Under normal circumstances the service is confidential and
we will not pass any information back to the referring
agency or any other party, however we will keep the
referring agency updated as to the progress of the case.

          It should however be made clear to neighbours that they
must not assume that this means not disclosing any criminal
activity.  They need also to be aware that should mediators
be subpoenaed, they will be compelled to give evidence in
Court. In certain cases of criminal activity, CALM will refer to
our Confidentiality Policy (which is available upon request)
and act accordingly to its policy.

4        At times CALM may be busy and have a waiting list, so a resolution
of a problem may take some time, but clients and referrers will be
informed of this.

5        The service is free of charge to the neighbours (where a Housing Association or other Organisation has already paid for the service).  The mediators are
volunteers and are fully trained to national Competence Level.