The following blog article first appeared in 'Mediation Matters! - Issue five'. Mediation Matters! is the quarterly newsletter of the University of Strathclyde Mediation Clinic where I am a lead mediator and a recent board member.  The Mediation Clinic provides a free mediation service in which experienced practitioners work alongside trainee mediators to help people resolve disputes without going to court or tribunal. In high school I won an award for ‘charitable giving’ when I organised a sponsored silence in honour of Children in Need, encouraging a dozen or so of my peers to refrain from speaking for a day. As an adult, it occurs to me that I received this award not for the amount of money raised (certainly less than £100), but instead I was being celebrated for providing the stressed and fatigued state schoolteachers with a day of relative calm. This was my last brush with adoration, having not been gifted an award since that day at 15 years of age, or indeed been invited