Astren offers training, consultancy and mediation with a personal touch. All our services are tailor-made to respond to your specific needs.
The partnership is owned and managed by Helen Blow and Astrid Hutchinson. Between them, Helen and Astrid have 30 years of experience in conflict resolution fields. This includes addressing conflict in the workplace, in the community and in education settings.
Helen Blow
Helen’s career in the conflict resolution field began in the 1980s, when she was also a founder member of the Lambeth Neighbourhood Mediation Service. Helen has many years of experience in resolving disputes, delivering conflict resolution training, building successful partnerships and managing services within a community cohesion context. She graduated as a teacher and has worked in a variety of education settings.
For 15 years, Helen managed Local Authority education support services for Gypsy, Roma and Travellers. In view of the mutual fear and mistrust that can characterise relations between Traveller and settled communities, Helen often found herself employing conflict resolution skills and strategies. She was a mediator for Nottingham City Council’s in-house mediation service until 2009, when she and Astrid launched Astren. Helen holds the Mediation Practitioner’s Certificate awarded by the Open College Network (OCN).
Astrid Hutchinson
Astrid is an experienced mediator and mediation service co-ordinator. Having gained experience in problem solving throughout her previous career in the public and private sector, Astrid trained as a mediator in 2004. She subsequently managed Nottingham City Council’s in-house mediation service for over four years, acting as a lead mediator and managing, guiding and supporting a team of qualified mediators working to resolve disputes referred from all divisions of the authority. In 2009, she joined forces with Helen Blow to establish Astren, offering a range of conflict resolution services, mediation and training. Astrid holds both the Mediation Practitioner’s Certificate and the ‘Unit 2: Working as a Mediator’ Certificate awarded by the Open College Network (OCN).