News

Young mediator wins a Diana Award

Friday 21st January 2011

Joseph, a student at Lammas School and Sports College in East London, and a member of the Leap PeerLink network since 2009, is one of the 280 young people who Leap has worked with over 3 years to establish a peer mediation scheme, where student volunteers help to resolve conflict between fellow students.

Joseph was nominated by one of his teachers for the prestigious national award, for exceptional young people aged 12-18 who make a sustained, selfless contribution to their community. He says

“Not only did Leap empower me with many skills to use in everyday situations, but also provided me with greater confidence. Because of Leap, our successful mediation team and me, we have been able to lower the amount of conflict in our school and the community.

Leap has been a great help to me and my peers. I am honoured to say I am a Leap Peer Mediator.

As a team we can say we have successfully trained up our younger students to carry on the service we leave! Special thanks to all the LEAP trainers, workshop hosts and also the organisation for giving us a chance!”

Everyone at Leap is thrilled that the hard work and commitment of young people like Joseph is being recognised in this way. We will continue our work training and inspiring young people to manage conflict in their schools and communities and prevent it escalating into violence.