Mediation is when an independent person brings two or more people together with the purpose of facilitating a conversation.

No. A mediator does not make a decision on the information before them. A mediator is neutral and is focused on helping all people participating in the mediation to focus on the future.

There are many different ways that mediations can be conducted. Mediation can be face-to-face, it can also be conducted by “shuttle” where people are in different rooms and the mediator moves between the rooms. The same can be done virtually via Zoom, either all in the one “room” or in separate Zoom rooms with the mediator moving between the rooms.

You are not required to have legal advice before mediation but it is strongly recommended. Research shows that good legal advice early can save you time and money in the long run.

I conduct mediations where people are legally assisted and their lawyer is present at the mediation. I also conduct mediations where people are not assisted by a lawyer. It is your choice. Some people may speak to their lawyer about touching base during the mediation for advice and you are free to do this during the mediation at any time.

Mediation is often the first type of formal dispute resolution in all sorts of areas including family disputes, workplace, contracts, rental disputes and more. Mediation is just the process that an independent person undertakes to bring two or more people together who are trying to move forward to resolve when they have been unable to progress further themselves.

Prior to the mediation I will first conduct an Intake Session with all people individually. Part of this process is to understand if you feel safe and to then determine if mediation is the right fit.

Certainly! Every opportunity to mediate is an opportunity to come together and move forward.

Mediation is suitable at any stage throughout the separation. In the early stages you may need help talking and have important questions that need to be addressed immediately. What do we tell the children, our families and friends? How do we agree to communicate? Who stays, who moves out? When do the children spend time with the other parent?

The role of the mediator is to focus on the process of bringing people together and designing an environment that will assist, giving consideration to each individual’s concerns. As a mediator I help you focus on the future and what you can do moving forward. The process can help you clarify the issues that you do agree on and identify those that you don’t agree on. This process saves people time narrowing the focus on what remains outstanding. The process can also help people get their communication back on track.

You may have been through the process previously and either reached agreement or alternatively have Orders in place but now your circumstances have changed, mediation can help.

If you know there is a conversation coming up that you know from previous conversations that you don’t agree on where your child/children should go to care/school, yes I can help you have that conversation. If this is the only topic to be covered, a shorter mediation may be appropriate.

When new partners arrive on the scene, this can change the dynamic. Mediation can help you to negotiate important questions that might arise so that you can agree on things before problems arise such as, who do we agree we can supervise our children if they can’t be with us like before and after school while I am still at work? Who can discipline our children and what does that look like? Can the children be left with older children of the new partner alone?

If this is the only topic to be covered, a shorter mediation may be appropriate.

Mediation can help provide an environment to have a conversation such as this where both people have the opportunity to hear what the other person believes is in the best interests of the children and the reasons behind their choice.

If this is the only topic to be covered, a shorter mediation may be appropriate.

The process of mediation helps each person to identify the issues where they agree and issues that they still disagree. Mediation can help you identify barriers and concerns which can help people understand how to move forward faster. If at the end of mediation agreement has not been reached on every issue, the mediation has helped narrow down the issues to those only that you are in dispute which can save you time moving forward.

There were considerable changes to the Australian family court system in September 2021.

“There is an expectation that you will attempt to resolve your dispute by compromise, discussion and dispute resolution, if it is safe to do so. Even if you do start court proceedings, in most cases, you must demonstrate that you have taken genuine efforts to resolve the dispute”. FCFCOA website

There are lots of great free resources available to parents who have separated to be able to make arrangements for their children or divide property and finances after separation and I suggest you go to www.fcfcoa.gov.au for more great information and links.