The mediator has a number of different roles to play during a mediation session. These include:

• Facilitating your mediation sessions – helping to create an environment which encourages the exchange of information, ideas and views in a constructive way so that you can progress towards joint decision-making.
• Establishing a safe space where both participants feel able to speak openly about the issues that have brought them to mediation. This might be in a way which is not possible outside of mediation. This includes establishing certain boundaries at the outset. Whilst the mediator will not tell either person what to do, they are able to flag up and react to behaviours which are not conducive to the mediation process such as aggressive, abusive or controlling behaviour from one participant to the other.