The Child Protection Mediation Program (CPMP) provides and manages mediation services for families across British Columbia.

To improve the quality of mediation services for all BC families, the CPMP needed to increase the number of mediators available on the provincial roster, and ensure the training practicum it delivered was one that supported learners, particularly Indigenous learners and those living in rural and remote areas, to be successful in their eventual role as family mediators.

Coeuraj led the BC Ministry of the Attorney General and a variety of stakeholders in Child Protection Mediation through a change process to identify specific areas for improvement and redesign of the CPMP and the Child Protection Practicum Program, focused on identifying structural and cultural gaps that were causing barriers to enrollment and student attrition.

Coeuraj made it possible for a variety of stakeholders to participate in defining existing problems and agree on solutions to improve the program and practicum. Through this work, project sponsors, delivery partners, Indigenous and non-Indigenous mediators, mediator mentors, and past and current learners were able to work together to find shared intent and develop a program and practicum suited to equipping its diverse learners with the support and training they needed to succeed.

What resulted was an organizational restructuring of the CPMP through the formation of a Steering Committee, an Indigenous Advisory Board, and the redefinition of roles and responsibilities within the Program, as well as an end-to-end practicum re-design. The new practicum design focused on fostering a supportive and inclusive experience for learners and mentors and included an additional learning stream dedicated to Indigenous learners, as well as further measures to support rural and remote learners throughout the practicum in full.

Coeuraj provided comprehensive facilitation, project management, and advisory services throughout the initiation, planning, and design phases of this work.