The Scottish Centre for Conflict Resolution

In Scotland, 5,000 young people become homeless due to relationships at home breaking down. Sadly, behind closed doors, many more are struggling daily with conflict and arguments.

.We all know how vulnerable young people are at the best of times without the added pressure and strain of a home breaking up.  They can be left feeling lonely, sad, mentally and physically exhausted and, for some, with nowhere to stay. During a national study, 1 in 4 young people have thought about running away due to issues at home and a third of parents admitted to arguing with their teenagers weekly.

This is where The Scottish Centre for Conflict Resolution comes in.  They are a national resource promoting and supporting best practise in conflict resolution, mediation and early intervention.

"We are helping young people and their families seek help before it reaches crisis point through our national Stop.Talk.Listen campaign, innovative series of training, seminars, and resource-rich website."

Usually we see mediation as a meeting that is set in an office with everyone sitting around a desk this is not the case here.  The mediators teach skills that can be used in every day life and that will stay with those they are helping.  SCCR not only support the children, they also help the parents, helping them to communicate through difficult times.

I have been given more information from SCCR which can be found below.

BACKGROUND: Scottish Centre for Conflict Resolution (SCCR)

Mediation is a proven way of helping families to try to avoid this break up. Butresearch by Edinburgh Cyrenians’ Amber Mediation Service in 2011 found mediation services to be patchy and often only available at the point of crisis.

In response to this, the Cyrenians set up the Scottish Centre for Conflict Resolution (SCCR), funded by the Third Sector Early Intervention Fund, to raise the profile of mediation; help parents and young people navigate through problems (or direct them to professional help if needed); support professionals and practitioners working with young people and families; and promote best practise.

Research by the SCCR shows 61 per cent of young people said arguments happen at home at least once a week, and 25 per cent of youngsters think about leaving home at least monthly. But the research also showed that many professionals don’t know how to support struggling families. 50% of professionals didn’t feel they had the skills or knowledge to support families at such times, despite 83% saying it was part of their role.

How the SCCR is helping:

CAMPAIGN: The SCCR has launched a new national public awareness campaign: Stop. Talk. Listen

Every family argues but unfortunately sometimes it can escalate to crisis point and can lead to young people becoming homeless. We believe that by talking openly about what we argue about it will help others toStop.Talk.Listenbefore reaching breaking point.

The campaign asks the general public to upload a selfie to a specially designed social media wall – sharing: What’s been the biggest cause of arguments at home? We want to get people thinking about how these can often be the tip of the iceberg and how they can stop, talk and listen to avoid longer term resentments and fall-outs.

The campaign has seen widespread support from Scottish civic leaders and some well- known names including Chief Executive and founder of Street Soccer (Scotland) David Duke, who was homeless himself, and former Big Brother winner Cameron Stout.  People can take part by visiting the campaign page here and sending in aStop.Talk.Listenselfie through the website, Instagram, or Twitter tagging #StopTalkListen @SCCRCentre
Audiences at the Science Festival will be the first to try out a new way to learn how to better manage family arguments tonight (Monday), as leading professionals join forces to promote a newly designed online resource to “mainstream” conflict resolution and mediation tools.

The new resource challenges people to learn more about the way their brain works and how deeply-engrained early experiences can shape the way they deal with conflict at home.

The new ‘Monkey v Lizard’ quiz – which can be found at bit.ly/TestMyBrain - has received the backing from doctor and medical advisor Dr Sara Watkin.