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DISPUTE TOPICS
Interpersonal
Strained Relationship, Friendship
Employment
Relational, Employee, Leadership
Business
Relational, Workspace
Family
Child Scheduling, Relational
Living Space
Noise, Lifestyle
School
Student, Faculty, Staff
Mediation: About
What Is Mediation?
Mediation is a conflict resolution process in which mediators help participants have a difficult conversation, get clear about what’s important to everyone, and make decisions that meet the needs of those involved. In mediation, people speak for themselves and make their own decisions. Mediation is a process in which a trained, impartial person (the "mediator") helps people in a dispute communicate, understand each other, and reach agreement if possible.
Benefit
Mediation allows you to speak, be heard, and hear one another. You will gain a better understanding and transform your relationship. Having the benefit of making your own decisions about the outcome of conflict meets the needs of everyone involved. In Private Mediation, both parties are motivated to settle, but have been unable to do so through their own negotiations.
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Mediation is confidential. Mediators are not judges or attorneys. They will not make final decisions and cannot represent the parents or give them legal advice. Mediators are neutral third persons who encourage open communication. Participants can re-mediate after if they need to make changes.
Each party will have an opportunity to meet with the mediator separately first to discuss the issues for mediation and ask any questions or canvass any concerns. This is called an intake. Parties are “screened” at the intake session by the mediator, to ensure that all parties feel safe, and are of equal bargaining power. That is, the mediator will determine if any power imbalances exist, and if there are, take corrective measures to “level the playing field” or if no remedies exist, to make the determination that mediation is not appropriate. Domestic violence is one of the more prevalent forms of power imbalance which may factor into the mediator’s decision.
Once both parties have met with the mediator for an intake, they will come together for a joint session with the mediator. At this first joint session, a contract for mediation is signed, which outlines how the mediation is to proceed. Intake sessions are approximately 30 minutes in length, at no charge.
All of our mediation sessions are closed. Closed mediation means that whatever is said and whatever offers are made in the mediation sessions cannot later be used against them in court or arbitration proceedings if negotiations fail, nor can a mediator be summonsed to court to talk about the process or what happened.
The mediator will continue to meet with clients for joint sessions until a full agreement is reached, or until mediation is no longer productive. On average it takes approximately 6 hours to complete an off-site mediation to conclusion, which includes both intake sessions. Sometimes parties reach a full agreement, and sometimes only a partial agreement is reached whereby the issues are narrowed for their next step of dispute resolution.
At the conclusion of mediation, the mediator writes a “mediation report” which contains all the points of agreement from the mediation and is only signed by the mediator.
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MOU vs. Contract
We will issue a MOU at the completion of mediation. A memorandum of understanding is not legally enforceable. A MOU will identify agreed upon expectations and represent cooperation to achieve an objective.
We do not mediate property or belongings*
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