FREE VIRTUAL MEDIATION SESSIONS

Through June 30th, Excluding divorce mediation


Frustrated with your senior parent going to the grocery store against your advice?

Annoyed by your apartment neighbor who plays music as you try to work from home?

Exasperated with you partner who won’t help enough with the kids?

Why mediation?

Tensions can run high as quarantines and social distancing create new challenges for families, neighbors and co-workers. Mediation can restore calm in your life by giving you an opportunity to resolve your conflict in a constructive, efficient manner.

Your mediator serves as a neutral who facilitates the conversation, without taking sides, and helps you explore ways to settle the disagreement that meet your needs.

Mediation is confidential and voluntary, so both sides need to agree to participate. You have nothing to lose by trying mediation to see if you can work out an agreement together. If you reach agreement, the mediator will write it up and give copies to both sides.

Even if you’ve tried to speak with the person in the past, and “gotten nowhere,” you may find that the conversation is different with a skilled facilitator guiding the process.

Our mediators are community members who have received extensive training for their role and have gained experience through mediating disputes in the courts. In the last year, over 96% of people who participated in mediation were satisfied with the process.

More Information: Frequently asked questions

Benefits of Mediation

Mediation is flexible: Mediation can be used to discuss creative and individualized solutions. In a mediation session, any issue the parties bring to the table (i.e., individual needs, interpersonal issues, etc.) can be discussed. 

Participants control the outcome: In the mediation process, the people involved in the situation are the ones who create an agreement that works for them.

Mediation is forward-looking: It focuses on what the issues are now, how they can be resolved, and what can be done to avoid similar problems in the future.

Mediation can preserve relationships: Mediation can help to build a framework for future interaction based upon mutual interests and needs rather than adversarial positions. 

Mediation is confidential:  The parties can speak openly and directly to each other and to the issues, without the proceedings being a matter of public record. 

WHY IS IT FREE?

As a community non-profit agency, our mission is to help resolve conflict in a constructive manner. With the drastic changes to daily life due to Covid-19, we’ve witnessed an increase in tensions and conflict among families, co-workers, roommates and neighbors. To help our community adapt to this new normal, we are offering free mediation services through June 30th, 2020 for all non-divorce cases.

How does it work?

  1. Contact us (see below) to let us know you’re interested in mediation. We’ll arrange to speak briefly with you to understand the situations.

  2. We will give you information to share with the other person(s) in the conflict or, with your permission, we will contact them to explain mediation.

  3. If both sides agree to participate, we arrange for a virtual mediation on Zoom at a time that works for everyone in the conflict.

  4. If you reach an agreement, our mediators can help you write it up. If not, hopefully the session brought more clarity and understanding about the situation.

REQUEST A MEDIATION