Congratulations to Family Works Resolution Service Manager Timothy McMichael who was named Mediator of the Year at the prestigious New Zealand Law Awards on November 23.
Timothy was one of seven finalists from throughout New Zealand who were nominated for the NZ Law Awards Resolution Institute – Mediator of the Year and the only one who is an NZQA-qualified coach and assessor.
A passionate advocate of dispute resolution for separated and separating Kiwi families, Timothy has had more than three decades of experience in the fields of family justice, counselling and family mediation in Britain, the United States and New Zealand.
Judges praised Timothy, who set up the Family Works Resolution Service (FWRS) in April 2014 following changes to the Family Court, for his commitment to the importance of hearing children’s stories during the mediation process.
His workload, successes, feedback and support of the Child Consultation model were impressive, the judges said.
“Mediators need to get to the point and Timothy seems apt at doing so,” said one judge who also praised Timothy’s “excellent 90 per cent clearance on a decent case load of 70”.
FWRS is the only fully funded Family Dispute Resolution supplier in New Zealand that offers a comprehensive Child Consultation Service which is widely used in Australia and the UK but not here.
Child Consultation involves a trained child consultant meeting the child one-on-one – independently of the mediator – to ascertain the child’s thoughts and feelings around their home care arrangements.
