Michele is an experienced and skilled mediator who does family, workplace, and civil court mediation. She provides a safe environment where parties can work through their differences to build a deeper understanding of what is between them and to uncover strategies for how they might choose to deal with it.
Michele also teaches conflict resolution and negotiation skills and techniques. Her audiences include mediators in training, leaders in organizations, consultants and front line workers.
People are able to solve their own problems most of the time. But sometimes this is difficult, for reasons that could include:
- emotion is too high
- one or both parties are certain they are right
- communication has broken down
- the stakes are too high.
Simply put, mediation is an assisted negotiation. When parties are unable to resolve a difference themselves, a mediator helps them to work through the situation to untangle the knots that are preventing them from finding a solution. It is a more cooperative and far less expensive approach to resolving problems than going through the legal system.
Proactive mediation is used to prevent problems from arising in the first place. Here, individuals, families, groups or teams use mediation to create the understanding necessary at the outset of the relationship to ensure everyone knows what to expect and how to behave for success.
Reactive mediation is used when individuals, families, groups or teams get off track and need to work collaboratively to get things going in the right direction.
- The mediator first meets with each party separately to explain the process and gather information.
- Then the parties and the mediator meet together for as many sessions as necessary for the situation to be resolved. This may take one or several meetings depending on how embedded the parties are in the conflict and how complex the situation. The parties, not the mediator, determine how many sessions are required.
- Throughout the mediation, the parties are in complete control. The mediator manages the conversation to ensure it stays safe and productive. The parties are in control of the content of the conversation and can choose to end the mediation at any time.
- The mediator is neutral, meaning she does not offer advice, give suggestions or pass judgement. She works for all parties to ensure everyone is heard, respected and represented in the conversation.
- In the case of separation or divorce, the parties will be asked by the mediator to also obtain legal and financial advice so the decisions they are making will be thorough and well informed.
- Mediation is confidential. The mediator will not discuss you or your situation with anyone outside of the mediation room. As well, the mediator cannot be called as a witness should the situation proceed to court or some other means of resolution. The mediator is bound by law to report child abuse or criminal activities.
- The mediator uses a collaborative style that allows the parties to gain a deeper understanding of the problem that is between them. Most often this results in creative solutions the parties never thought possible. The solutions tend to stick because the parties are more committed to decisions they make themselves.
Mediation is appropriate when working through workplace challenges such as:
- getting off on the right foot – aligning work teams and project teams
- re-aligning work teams and project teams that are faltering
- resolving disagreements between co-workers, managers and workers
- resolving intra and inter departmental disagreements
- managing harassment, human rights issues
- negotiating termination agreements
- handling client disagreements
Mediation is appropriate for making decisions on:
- keeping marital relationships together
- divorce, separation
- parent-teenager relationships
- adult children living at home
- care plans for aging parents, relatives
- sibling relationships
- sharing family assets (cabin, heirlooms, keepsakes, etc.)
- condo, community, organizational board issues
- neighbor disputes
- community disputes