The vice-president of the regional government of Castilla y León and Minister of Family and Equal Opportunities, Isabel Blanco, announced this Wednesday that the mediation service ‘Mediacyl’, which arbitrates family conflicts by promoting dialogue, will be available in all provinces of the Community “at the beginning of 2025”.
Blanco, during his visit to the center of Salamancaexplained that currently two spaces are operating: that of Burgoswhich covers this province and to which are attached the centers of Aranda de Duero, Miranda de Ebro and Soria, and the center of the capital of Salamanca, to which is located the seat of the capital Ávila, Arenas de San Pedro and Candeleda, as well as the capital of Zamora. and Benavente, recover Ical.
However, the vice president announced that this month of September The call for concerts will be launched for the centers of Lionwith a center attached to Ponferrada, and Valladolid, to which the services of Segovia and Palencia will be connected. The budget is 1.1 million euros, 573,000 euros from León and 570,000 euros from Valladolid, thanks to which the entire territory of Castilla y León will be covered.
An impartial voice
Isabel Blanco recalled that the centers of Salamanca and Burgos were launched in 2023 at a cost of almost one million euros, 574,000 euros for the first and 383,000 euros for the second, for a duration of two years extendable for two others, and currently the service is provided by the Association of Well-being and Development (ABD), a non-profit entity.
The Junta de Castilla y León has launched “Mediacyl” to “avoid complex situations and support family units in the Community”, because “Many conflicts arise within families “they take root due to the absence of dialogue, professional intervention or, simply, an impartial voice capable of interceding to promote agreements between the parties.”
This service, promoted by the Department of Family and Equal Opportunities, is free, personalized and confidential, and its main objective is to “promote positive family relationships and prevent difficulties that endanger coexistence,” as the advisor clarified.
“It is a comprehensive service that addresses the situation from different angles and is carried out in person,” added Blanco. Since its launch in September last year, 445 families have been served, 236 in the center of Salamanca and 209 in Burgos, with an impact on more than 1,500 people.
What is covered?
Among the issues addressed in mediation, the counselor listed “complex relationships between parents and children, violent behavior of children, mutual misunderstandings, relationship problems, conflicts in separation or divorce processes, obstacles in managing care for a dependent family member, difficulties in dealing with grieving processes due to the loss of a family member”, etc.
In essence, any context that gives rise to traumatic processes can be treated in a “Mediacyl” center. To this end, the Department of Family and Equal Opportunities has interdisciplinary teams composed of psychologists, social workers, lawyers, family mediators and social educators, which in Salamanca is coordinated by Claudia Monardes.
This multifunctional group of professionals addresses the situation by providing the type of support needed. One of them, the most general and the entry into this resource, is that of psychosocial information and advicewhich ranges from specific information to referral to another resource to address the problem in a more specialized manner. Also offered psychological support during an intra-family conflict, limit listening spaces to deal with complex relationships between parents and children, couples or grieving processes.
One of the key resources of “Mediacyl” is precisely family mediation, through which consensual agreements are promoted to end conflicts and confrontations. But these centers also have a specialized legal advice service in family matters, aimed at breakups, divorces, inheritances, etc.
Finally, a training activity called “Family School” has also been promoted, a space intended to offer courses, workshops or conferences on the topics most requested by Castilian and Leonese family units, with the aim of facilitating communication and strengthening the family institution.
The advisor stressed that the results of the satisfaction surveys are “remarkably positive”, since users give “Mediacyl” the rating of “excellent” and also recognize the “short waiting time”. The most frequent cases treated are related to situations of conflict between parents and children – the most common are those arising from school demands and results, the way of approaching parenthood at different stages of the life cycle, breakups and divorces, problems in relationships with the family. vast, inheritances, care for people in a situation of dependency or mourning, either due to the loss of a family member due to death or due to immigration processes.
