The Asociación para la Mediación, el Encuentro y la Escucha (AMEE – Association for Mediation, Meetings and Listening) was set up in July 2013 as a non-profit organisation under article 22 EC, governed by Organic Law 1/2002. We are in the process of obtaining a Public Interest Declaration certificate.

We are a group of people formed by professionals from different areas that:

• believe in an integrative world, where we are all linked to one another
• try to ensure that the needs of all involved parties are met in our disputes and conflicts
• have trained in Mediation and Nonviolent Communication tools and Restorative Circles
• have experienced the profound changes that take place in a conflict when those involved express themselves honestly, outline their basic needs, and the other party listens empathetically, aided by a mediator that opens windows so that light can pass through the barriers we normally construct within ourselves.

AMEE works in Penitentiary Madrid I (Women) in Alcalá Meco in a “Restorative Justice and Mediation Program” approved by the Secretary General of Penitentiary Institutions and has recently signed a Collaboration Agreement with Penitentiary Institutions and with Wolters Kluwer in order to carry out a Restorative Justice program and to expand the actions of penitentiary mediation and criminal mediation.

AMEE carries out four mediation services: penitentiary, family penitentiary, inmate perpetrators of crime and unconnected victims, inmate perpetrators of crime with connected victims.

To help our society become more human, understanding and sustainable by supporting people in conflict management and in experiencing conflict as an inherent part of life and relationships.

To offer specific resources to people in conflict situations, so they can resolve their differences by themselves through dialogue, by creating a space where it is possible to express, listen and consider the needs of all the involved parties.

To attest to the fact that within conflict, it is possible to develop as a person, which can transform relationships. This change has an impact on the community where it takes place and on society as a whole.

• To work with people so that they can acquire responsibility and power over their lives, their family and their immediate social environment. To use listening, restorative dialogue meetings, mediation and education.
• To act using the principles of Restorative Justice in prisons, as places where conflict has more serious repercussions on both a personal and social level. We carry this out by implementing our “Restorative Justice, Criminal Mediation and Prison Programme” in the Spanish State.
• To extend our projects to the realms of education and family using the principles of Restorative Justice.

• Trust: acting with the conviction that when someone takes a deep look at us, and validates our feelings and basic needs, we reconnect with our most human side and our genuine desire to contribute to life.
• Humanity: looking at human beings as a whole rather than how they express themselves or behave at a specific moment.
• Respect: basing our work consciously on respect, welcoming people without judging or moralizing about the stage in life that people with difficulties find themselves at.
• Presence: listening with empathy and offering people our full and compassionate presence.
• Appreciation for Diversity: performing our work with the knowledge that human beings share the same basic needs while also being different in the ways we choose to act to meet those needs.
• Integrity: acting with transparency and honesty.
• Commitment: carrying out our work solidly, professionally and with our full commitment.