Marital Mediation Offers a New Option

Sometimes couples come to us in a situation where both parties are unhappy with certain elements of their marriage. They don’t want to continue the relationship as it is now, but they really don’t want a separation or divorce.

Marital mediation can be an invaluable tool in reaching mutually acceptable agreements on how a couple will handle targeted areas in the relationship. The neutral mediator helps you both have meaningful and often enlightening conversations about your needs and expectations around problem issues. The mediation is specifically focused on defining these areas of conflict and changing how you interact when dealing with them, setting goals and establishing agreed to processes to meet your needs.

Some examples of issues that couples have mediated are: how money is spent, setting boundaries for children, and balancing responsibilities around the home, as well as many others. There have also been mediated situations where one spouse wants to give information to the other spouse, but is uncomfortable doing it without being in a supportive environment. One example of this might be that one spouse has run up a large amount of debt that the other spouse is unaware of. In the mediation setting, the disclosure of information can be followed up with decisions and agreements on how the couple will deal with the issue for the future. You come up with a plan that works best for both of you.

While the Marital Mediation process allows couples to express their values and goals around topics that are areas of conflict, it is unlike therapy in that it is future focused – it does not seek to go back and deal with the past, or assign responsibility for how these conflicts arose, and lasts only a few sessions. This is not therapy. For therapy, you should seek the help of a licensed therapist/Mental Health professional. Mediation helps people to negotiate difficult situations, communicate and come up with new tools and plans for the future.

Any relationship has areas that take hard work to maintain, and most relationships are worth the effort. If you are interested in giving marital mediation a try, you can set up an initial, no commitment consultation. Please call: 585-269-8140.