Chairs’ Year in focusFirst of all I would like to thank the staff team, Mark, Kathy Pam, Rich, Liz and Emily for their professional-ism, always going the extra mile, staying good humoured despite dealing with challenging phone calls and having to find mediators, often at short notice.

I would also like to thank our volunteer mediators without whom our service wouldn’t exist and who do a fantastic job. Many of whom have been working on more than one case or have taken on cases at short notice. The constant is our feedback from parties is how much they appreciate the kindness and support of mediators.

Finally, I would like to thank my fellow trustees for keeping the organisation on the straight and narrow.

BHIMS has had its busiest year ever! Not only has casework increased, we have been able to attract more funding and our reputation and profile in in the city is well established. We are at the centre of the Restorative City work being carried out across Brighton and Hove. See ‘Looking forward...’

Our volunteers & mediatorsBHIMS has a proud tradition of being a volunteer led organisation. Without our volunteers be they Trustees or Mediators we would have no mediation service. Many of our mediators have specific skills over and above being brilliant community mediators and include dispute resolution skills that can be used in workplace, commercial, family mediation and restorative justice settings.Our volunteers make the service what it is – an organisation that has a great reputation across the city for delivering effective community resolutions. Our mediators are simply just the best. Thank you for all that you do.

OutreachBHIMS continues to collaborate closely with the wonderful team at YAC to liaise with services and organisations across the city to make mediation services available to those who most need them. Amongst others, we have met with; • supported housing teams in BHT and the YMCA • the Family Information Service • Possability People • Family, housing and substance misuse support services at HMP Lewes • Sussex Police

CaseworkBHIMS had 116 cases referred to us in 2017, up 22% on our 2016 figures. This was our busiest year ever – and we are on track to have an even higher number of cases in 2018. Our cases are becoming more complex with people in dispute facing a range of difficult challenges in their lives. BHIMS has become one of the go to organisations to help reduce conflict and anti-social behaviour.Mediation remains a great way to de-escalate tensions. Our restorative approach empowers people to find their own solutions to the disputes that have such a negative impact on their lives. We have also seen great benefit from the one to one support we are able to offer through conflict coaching. An increasing number of cases are referred to us as conflict coaching cases, and in mediation cases where one party does not wish to engage, we are able to offer valuable support. The vast majority of clients report that after support from our mediators they are in a better and emotionally stronger place than where they started.

TrainingThis has been a quieter year for training. Kathy has delivered a day’s training to the Housing Ombudsman on the use of mediation skills in the workplace, a half-day workshop for students at the University of Sussex on conflict resolution skills and a half day workshop for local company, Pure Potions on managing difficult conversations.

BHIMS mediators have received fantastic training from Chris Brown on mental health awareness and suicide prevention. BHIMS has provided a series of short training sessions for all mediators on the new GDPR regulations and our new procedures to meet these requirements.

Our peer support sessions for mediators have been well attended this year and themes have included: Giving feedback, challenging behaviour in mediation meetings and mediation as a restorative practice.

BHIMS is proud to be working with Brighton and Hove City Council to prevent homeless-ness. BHIMS, YMCA Downslink, Youth Advice Centre, Nightstop and Equinox are all part of the council’s trailblazer initiative to provide early interventions to reduce homeless-ness. BHIMS has been working alongside the Youth Advice Centre (YAC) to offer mediation and one to one support to people where arguments or disputes are putting their housing situation at risk.

This is the second year of the initiative and so far we have supported people to resolve disputes with family members, landlords, and co-tenants, to resolve issues and maintain their housing.

Early Intervention Service to Prevent Homelessness

SPOTLIGHTON 2017 - 18

SPOTLIGHTON 2017 - 18

brighton housingtrust

Who are BHIMS?Brighton and Hove Independent Mediation Service is a small charity which has been operating primarily in Brighton, Hove and the Lewes areas for over 25 years.The majority of our work focuses on neighbourhood disputes. In addition we do work to prevent homelessness and offer support for people facing conflict within the family, tenants and landlords in dispute and sheltered housing. We work with educational institutes, supported and sheltered housing and offer conflict coaching which is an alternative to mediation when only one party agrees to take part.We undertake workplace mediation and deliver tailor made conflict resolution within the charity sector and to other organisations on a commercial basis.

BRIGHTON & HOVEIndependent Mediation Service

Tel: 01273 700812Mob: 07864 339989www.bhims.org.uk

BRIGHTON & HOVEIndependent Mediation Service

MoneyWithout the support of our funders - Brighton & Hove City Council, Lewes District Council, Brighton Housing Trust, Clarion Housing, Southern Housing, Southdown Housing, Two Piers Housing, Optivo Housing and Sussex Police we would not be solvent. I am delighted that all our funders have remained with us and are committed to BHIMS going forward. They like what we do and to quote from a recent police testimonial;

BHIMS have been SOOOOO useful for thepolice service. You have managed to take a variety of cases from us and resolve them

… I cannot understate how useful your team are to us and the various aspects that you help with

…. I have worked in many departments and divisions of Sussex Police and I cannot recall

a similar unit as BHIMS. It should be ‘best practice’ on all divisions!

We are delighted that we turn into the financial year in surplus and with sufficient reserves to help us manage the unexpected. We will continue to invest more resources into mediator training and development and outreach whilst looking to diversify and grow new revenue streams. The 2017/18 Accounts can be found at bhims.org.uk

We are currently going through the process to achieve professional accreditation from the Restorative Justice Council by securing RSQM accreditation (which are the Restorative Standards for Quality Management). Achieving accreditation (assuming we are successful) will provide us with professional recognition, accreditation of mediation being a restorative practice and enhance our reputation both across the City, improving our ability to bid for future work on a level playing field with our competitors.We are about to launch a film (during National Mediation Week) called “Tempest” which looks at the impact conflict, breakdown of communications and social isolation can have on people’s lives. The film is directed by film writer Justin Spray one of our volunteer mediators and was made with help of volunteers and was funded by Sussex Community Foundation and supported by both Brighton & Hove City Council and Sussex Police. A big thankyou to everyone who helped with thisBrighton & Hove City Council one of our principal funders is going out to tender for mediation services. The tender will include community mediation, referrals from environmental health and workplace mediation. If successful the funding will provide us some much needed long term financial security. Subject to agreement of the BHIMS members at the AGM it is intended that BHIMS will change status to a CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation). CIO will provide BHIMS greater security going forward.We go forward with muchoptimism, despite the challenges, for an excitingand innovative year ahead.Thank you allSusy TaylorBHIMS – Chair of Trustees

Feedback from a social landlord on a

recent successful mediation outcome "...I am sure that

now there will be no need to escalate this through the

court...Thank you ".- Client

“A great forward thinking partnership,

taking the strain off the front line & helping

to resolve issues between parties”

- Sussex Police

“Thank you for running this

valuable service which has made a huge difference to the

quality of our life!!!” - client

" I see the mediation service as a key partner in

community safety and I again thoroughly endorse the work they carry out

for us” - Sussex Police

" The role of the mediation service has

been absolutely vital in resolving short and long-term neighbour

disputes" – Brighton & Hove

City Council

“the mediation service really does take

a lot of strain off the police and it also resolves issues

between parties over a longer period of time and very

effectively" - Sussex Police

“It’s improved things dramatically,

and it was so much better. We have new students next door now and we have felt more able to discuss things with them which has also

really helped”. - Client

“Your communications

handbook is a truly wonderful thing. A colleague and I have had two possible conflict situations since the workshop and we have used the tools and sorted things out quickly whereas usually

we would have been giving daggers

for weeks!”- Client

“Very useful and relevant skills for further career, academic studiesand entire life.”

- Delegate

“I learnt a lotin a short time.”

“I learnt and had lots of fun – very enjoyable

and informative.”- Delegate

You provide a fantastic service – you are inspira-tional and I have

loved workingwith you.- Delegate

“Very enjoyable and informative –

great facilitator.”- Delegate

“I am immensely proud tobe the patron of BHIMS. The team who run it and work tirelessly and selflessly for it are truly inspirational and the work that it does is of incalculable value, both in solving situations that not only blight peoples’s lives and sometimes destroy all their quality of life, but in also relieving some of the burden from our already over-stretched police. This is an organisation going from strength to strength each year, and its achievements over the past twelve months are truly remarkable.” - Peter James

“I learnt a lot in a short time.” “I learnt and had lots of fun – very

enjoyable and informative.”

- Delegate

“Fantastic, thoughtful and

engaging session. Kathy is light-hearted,

astute and a great facilitator. Really useful session!”

- Delegate

"Service offered by your team allows

officers to refer parties to mediation, to find a way of moving forward. Referral

system is simple and gives Police a valuable tool ... to find

early resolutions to issues which can go on for years”

- Sussex Police

“Working with BHIMS was both

productive and enjoyable for both staff and residents,

and their offer of conflict resolution helped some

individuals better cope with incidents that would have

previously upset them” - Elder Care Scheme