Is it possible to guide families out of the courts and towards well-being? I think so. If you're a parent in a high-conflict case, a family mediator, or a family lawyer - I invite you to lean in with me.
Training up-and-coming family mediators is a total joy for me. Every mediator represents a multitude of family legacies that will be forever changed by their willingness to join families down the bumpy path of conflict to a smoother way of peaceful resolution.
A few weeks ago, I decided to see how many families engage weekly in the Minnesota family courts. The public website of each of our 87 county court calendars was downloaded, and to my surprise, I collected over 600 pages of size nine font lists of case files. Now, to be fair, this includes juvenile, criminal, civil, mental health, and family cases. But, the divorce and family law business is booming, and the stories come in for various reasons. My heart sank.
Every family case file represents a home environment, a parent, minor children or grown children, life savings, debts, and retirement accounts. Each file number represents a legacy starting with dreams, promises, hope, and love shifting to "a gift of broken family relationships" if not handled with enormous care and education. We have a responsibility as professionals to educate better.
What would you want someone to tell you if your name was represented on the court calendar? Here's what I'd say as a mom having been involved in over 150 hearings:
I'd want to be heavily educated with options that pointed my family and me towards well-being and out of conflict - not into more battle.
I'd like to decide (or self-determine). I want to see what choices are at my fingertips and accessible to me. I'd like to understand mediation styles. What if I could choose - the right type and mediator that best fits my immediate needs, not just the one suggested down the hallway by my attorney. I've done it for therapists, for selecting my car, my house, the doctors I see, and where I live. I'm competent.
Restoring Home Cooperative is a free resouce for parents actively litigating. And I'm personally reaching out to parents on the court calendar, educating them with free and useful resources while pointing them to a growing list of mediators they can choose from. I'm informing their lawyers, too - I know many lawyers promoting the same thing I am...why not join together and collaborate? Good grief, there are 600 pages of court calendars to go through every week. With so many families and people to directly reach out to - who wants to participate? They are already calling, setting up consultations, and so are their lawyers. Connect families to free resources: https://www.restoring-home.com/
Restoring Home Cooperative is for any mediator! All styles of mediation are needed for families to chose from. Grow your practice and have a built-in marketing plan and a network of like-minded professionals, get on the directory (releasing in 2 weeks), and build relationships with parents. Grow your influence, share tips and ideas with parents struggling with their family relationships, and be a part of the needed change. I've secured your continuing ed hours to have it all in one spot too! Join the Cooperative: https://www.thekatallassogroup.com/cooperative