Test Riding ApologyPlus –your opportunity to role-play on-line

Test Riding ApologyPlus –your opportunity to role-play on-line

This role play is not a rush to get to a particular place.
If you are working on it alone, take as long as you are willing to give it & please then go to the feedback & suggestions page.
(If you are working with colleagues e.g. on different computers in the office at the same time, then the co-ordinator could practice and decide how long they would like their team to spend working this through.
At the end of the agreed time period, people can be asked to go to spend 5 minutes on the ‘feedback and suggestions’ page and then meet together to discuss what did & didn’t work for you.)
This isn’t surfing, this is riding a wave.

Your ApologyPlus test-ride

1) Think of a city in the UK where you will imagine that you live.:……………………………………
(If you are a co-ordinator of a mediation service, please choose your own town!)

2) Keep your same name (& use ‘Test-ride’ as the first line of your address if asked for it)

3) In role playing on-line, imagine the party you choose to play to have the same level of familiarity with how the web works as you have.

4) Choose whether you want to be Person A, B or C:

Person A (Married, with children)
You have made a complaint first to your neighbour, Person B. Then you have made the complaint more fully to your Housing Association Landlord about Person B. Your complaint in full is that Person B has been making verbal threats against your children, they are noisy and they are intimidating.
(Please choose a name for Person B to make this situation more real to you:……………).

Person B (A single father)
You have heard Person A & Person C complain to you about the noise you and your children make. You have replied by letting Person C know that her oldest son has been “bullying and harassing” your children. (Please choose names for Person A & Person C to make this situation more real to you:…………… & ……………….)

Person C (A single mother)
You have the same complaints as Person A. You also spoke to Person B about it and were told that your oldest son has been “bullying and harassing” Person B’s children. (Please choose names for Person A & Person B to make this situation more real to you: ……………………………………….)

5) A letter has come from your Housing Association Landlord:

“Dear Tenant
We are aware of some tension between some of the neighbours. We hope this can be sorted out. We don’t know what it will take to sort it out. As a first step, we suggest that you use the confidential website www.ApologyPlus.org.uk and see if it has any relevance to your situation. If you are keen to work on resolving the issues between you we will be willing to find resources to pay for mediators. (More information about what mediators do is available via the website).
Good luck.
Yours sincerely,

(Housing Officer)”

P.S. If you do not have access to the internet or know anyone who can help you use it, we suggest that you phone the touch-tone ApologyPlus helpline (01**** ****) or approach one of the following. Ask them if you can spend an hour there, with some support, to go through the website www.ApologyPlus.org.uk:
1) The local Citizen’s Advice Bureau (Tel…..)
2) The local Library (Tel…..)
3) An Internet Cafe
4) “Social Services” (if you are a client of theirs)

5) One of our housing officers, or someone more independent who we may be able to find to visit you with a portable computer.

P.P.S. You may, or may not, choose to indicate to your neighbours that you have visited www.ApologyPlus.org.uk
(One way of letting your neighbours know that you are taking this issue seriously and following our advice would be to drop the ApologyPlus flyer in their door or post it in a public area, with or without the words “I’ve been working on it” & with or without your name.)