2 young men who attended the YOS got into a fight in reception. The workers were spending a lot of time and energy ensuring that they didn’t meet at the YOS or at any of the projects the young men needed to attend as part of their orders at the YOS. However the young men sometimes saw each other on the street or at Court and there continued to be conflict between them.

The workers decided to offer them a mediation to see if the issues could be sorted out in order for them both to be able to attend the YOS and to stop the conflict between them. After some private preparation with each young man they agreed to meet each other.

The first meeting involved the parents of both the boys as both parents had told the YOS workers they were concerned about what was happening and the safety of their sons.

The boys were able to agree at this meeting that they wouldn’t fight anymore and were able to give some reassurances to both sets of parents. They went on to have two more meetings with just them and the worker who mediated the first meeting. At these meetings they were able to discuss the history of ill feeling between them and how they wanted to behave with each other in the future.

Both the boys said that although the meetings were long and difficult at times, it was better now as both of them could get on with what they needed to do without having to worry about bumping into each other. The main thing they agreed was just to acknowledge each other when they saw each other and to ignore comments made by some of their friends to stir things up again.