What to expect at a Mediation Information and Assessment Meetings (MIAMs)

Hi, I’m Olivia, a family lawyer and mediator at Kingsley Napley LLP working alongside four other brilliant mediators in our team. In this short blog, I set out what you can expect from your first meeting with a family mediator.

Mediation has probably been suggested or recommended to you by your solicitor or perhaps you have read about it as an effective and solutions focussed way of resolving disputes while respecting and preserving important family relationships. After making contact with a mediator, the first step will be to arrange to meet with them. This first meeting will be a one-on-one meeting with your mediator, or sole session or MIAM as it is sometimes known. I set out below some information about what that first meeting will entail.

What to expect at a MIAM?

A MIAM is an acronym for Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting. Some mediators refer to it as an introductory or intake meeting or even an exploratory meeting which is my preference as I feel it better captures the objective of the meeting.

Although we might have had a brief telephone conversation or exchange of emails, our exploratory meeting will be the first time we meet properly, whether that is face to face in person or on screen. It’s an important meeting for us to get to know each other and for you to tell me about and for me to understand what is going on for you and your family. I’ll also talk to you about mediation (what it is, the likely process and how it can be adapted for each family) and provide information about other options available to work through family issues.

There’s an information form I will ask you to complete in advance of our meeting so that I have your details and you can set the scene for me ahead of our meeting. There is often a fair amount of material for us to cover when we meet and the information form helps to ensure we make the best use of the time we have together. Usually this will be anywhere between 1 and 2 hours, but everyone and every issue you might face is different and so we’ll use the time that we need.

The ‘assessment’ part can sound off-putting and a bit like an exam, but really it’s an opportunity for us both to think about whether mediation is going to be right for you and the issues you need solutions for and also for you to assess whether I am the right person to work through those issues with you and the others involved.

The fact that we are in a one-on-one meeting means that you can feel free and able to express yourself and raise any concerns or niggling worries you may have. My role throughout mediation is to be even-handed as between you and all participants involved and to be an independent and neutral facilitator of your discussions. That said, in our initial meeting what you tell me and what we discuss is confidential from the other prospective participant(s), save for a few limited exceptions relating to the safety of adults and children. This means you can have a really open conversation with me as we get to know each other and decide whether mediation is a suitable means of resolving the issues that brought you there.

I’ll also have an exploratory meeting with the other person or people in your dispute and go through the same process learning about them and providing them with information about mediation and other options. If you both or all wish to proceed and I consider that mediation is appropriate then we can move on to arranging our first joint session.

Even if we conclude that mediation isn’t suitable at this point in time, I really hope, and many prospective participants have echoed, that attending an exploratory meeting is nevertheless a really valuable investment of their time. They have understood more about mediation as a process and the other routes available to them to resolve their issues, as well as having the time and space to articulate the problems they need help with and an opportunity to consider different perspectives on that issue.

If you are interested to learn more or think that mediation might be a good way to explore and resolve issues in your family, then do get in touch with the Family Mediation Team at Kingsley Napley.