Mediation – The Process of Healing

By Farley Tolpen, CEO.

So what do you do when you have two parties at each other’s throats for over 4 years? This was one of those classic situations you see every day in cheesy 80’s sitcoms. This involved two people who were constantly shouting at each other and throwing any hint of civility out the window. Any kind of constructive communication had long ceased and all that was left was bitterness. What is a mediator to do?

So, I brought my A game and sat them both down for a serious 1 on 1. They came into the process without the ability to listen to the facts. They had to come up with a resolution for the children’s sake as the conflict was causing serious damage. The goal of the mediation was to set aside their history and emotions and to find a resolution. After 3 hours, I had them finally talking in multi syllabic functional words and on the road to resolution.