I always offer a reduced rate to clients who return for further services after their mediated agreements are complete. I do this because I believe strongly that mediation is a tool that helps to create peaceful lives. I want to encourage parents to come back and work with me rather than trying to hash things out on their own. I’m passionate about the difference that this can make for those parents, their kids, their entire family, and in turn our community.
I always work with my clients to create the most durable documents possible that will last into the future. I bring up circumstances that might arise in the future like the introduction of a new partner, a change in income, or moving. But, there are always going to be unforeseen circumstances that can cause disputes. Often people don’t realize just how much one issue is constantly creating friction. I worked with parents that had an agreement in place for several years, but were constantly finding themselves in arguments and text message battles about pick-up and drop-off times for their children. This went on for over a year. When they finally came back to mediation we quickly figured out that the existing schedule simply made no sense for either one of them anymore. Work schedules, their locations, and the children’s extracurricular activities had all changed since we met initially. They were trying to fit a square peg into a round hole and were both getting frustrated. In reality, the problem wasn’t either one of them, but the impossibility of their schedule!
I helped these parents to completely revamp the parenting schedule into one that made sense for everyone. We talked about better ways to communicate between them, apologies were made, some new boundaries were set, and they were on their way. All of this took 1 individual session each and 1 hour of mediation time. About 3 hours of their time saved years of continued fighting and stress.
About 3 hours of time saved years of continued fighting and stress.
Consider your own situation. Is there a sore spot in your existing arrangement that is always causing problems? Instead of perpetuating the conflict or just putting up with it, what would happen if you asked your ex, “Would you attend mediation with me to work this out?”
Come back! I will help you through the conflict so that you can both continue on in peace.