About Us
Our Vision is to be a rural centre for excellent conflict resolution.
Families
We provide private and legally aided family mediation for families that are separating. Claire Jackson is also Direct Child Consultation accredited and is therefore able to see your children independently. Claire facilitates the Incredible Years Parenting Programme for Powys County Council and feeds her experience into her family mediation practice.
Schools
We provide training to schools to set up their own peer mediation service. This enables children to resolve their own disputes. Children are the society of the future and we believe introducing a simple resolution process builds resilience and a positive approach to any potential conflict as an adult.
Wye Valley Mediation delivers our services with care and compassion and will always put our clients first.
Claire Jackson, Director
Family Mediator, Peer Mediator Trainer, Restorative Practitioner.
Claire qualified as a barrister in 1994 and practised from 1 Dr. Johnson’s Chambers. She then became Principal Lecturer on the Bar Professional Training Course, training post graduates to become barristers and solicitors.
Her specialism is family law and she also taught Alternative Dispute Resolution. On moving to Hay-on-Wye Claire decided to put teaching into practice and qualified as a Family Mediator. In 2014 Claire was appointed as an Independent Lay Member of the Standards Committee for Powys County Council.
Claire is committed to helping people move forward during separation. Children are the first consideration in any agreement and Claire will ensure that you have all the resources you need to support you when you make decisions that affect their welfare. Claire also enjoys the jigsaw puzzle that is finances and the challenge of how two new families can operate in the future.
Fiona McHale, Director
Head of Nursing for Urgent Care, Herefordshire County Hospital
Fiona brings a wealth of experience from her career in nursing and management. Formerly Lead Nurse for Paediatrics, she was instrumental in setting up the 'Young Ambassadors' to give children a voice in improving hospital services.
Paul Kemp
Associate Mediator
Paul Kemp is the Principal of The Worcester Family Mediation Practice http://www.twfmp.co.uk/ which is a leading provider of family mediation services. Paul has been a family mediator since 1990.
Paul’s motivation as a family mediator, collaborative practitioner and divorce lawyer is that he gets a real kick out of helping people to find solutions to tricky problems.
Paul reckons that the best people to make decisions about their lives are the people themselves, not some distant third party. That is why he is so committed to family mediation and collaborative family law and has trained as a consultant to other mediators. He especially thinks that parents will usually be the right people to make decisions about what is best for their children.
Steve Hancox
Associate Mediator
Barrister at Cathedral Chambers, Newport, business adviser and dedicated mediator with the patience and expertise to deal with seemingly intractable disputes and cases with a high emotional content.
Lorna Griffiths
Office Administrator
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Lorna is an other person you are likely to encounter in our office. She will help schedule appointments, send out documents and can talk to you about MIAMs and the Mediation process.
Lorna comes from a customer based finance and administration background and is happy to help you with any queries.
Nell Pearce-Higgins
Family Mediator
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Nell read English at Cambridge before qualifying as a solicitor in London in 2021. Nell specialised in Family Law, and worked for Russell-Cooke LLP (a top 100 Law firm) covering a range of family matters, including divorce and separation, financial settlements, disputes involving children, same sex couples, child protection matters, high net worth clients and complex cases with cross border assets.
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Nell returned to Herefordshire to her family farm, and began training as a Family Mediator in 2021. She enjoys helping people to resolve their disagreements in a productive way, reach their own solutions that work for them and for their children. Nell's legal experience means she is able to help people to work through these difficult times and navigate legal, practical and financial paths to a more positive future.
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She is currently working towards achieving Accredited Family Mediator status with Family Mediation Council, which means she is completing a portfolio of cases and can run her own mediations while doing so.