Intake

The intake step of mediation is a critical step in the process. After we have an initial free consultation and you agree to formalise the process then we will conduct an intake session with you and the other party in the dispute. The Mediation Intake provides an opportunity for the mediator to decide whether, or not mediation is the best alternative for trying to resolve your dispute. This allows us to conduct an interview of both parties and this helps us gather the information to assess your matter as suitable for mediating. We use the Intake session to get to know the parties in the dispute.

We also get to hear first-hand what brings you to attempt to mediate. We can listen to the parties and try to help you find a way to resolve your issues, and we can also decide whether mediation is the best way forward. Sometimes, such as where this is domestic abuse, holding a mediation may not be the best way forward. In such cases, we will issue a certificate to prove that you attempted mediation which means you do not need to attend a formal mediation conference.

The purpose of the Mediation Intake interview is to allow the mediator to assess if mediation is suitable for you. As discussed, if a party is at possible risk of harm or even where the practitioner is at risk of harm then mediation may not be suitable at all. Our mediators will whether your circumstances can be managed or whether it is too difficult to attempt mediation.

The Mediation Intake session is the time where we can develop an impartial and unbiased relationship with both parties. The intake session allows the mediator to listen to both party’s take on the dispute, and to help us listen to your issues, differences, and the intake can also allow us to help identify any areas of common ground or possible agreements.

• Family Law Mediation offers an unbiased and impartial service
• The Mediation Intake allows us to listen to the issues from both parties’ perspective.
• Intake allows us to assess whether mediation is appropriate for your matter
• Mediation Intake is an important first formal step in the mediation process

Mediation Intake is a confidential conversation between each of the parties and the mediator.

Generally, our mediation intake will last about an hour to an hour and a half per person. Our mediator aims to understand up to three objectives depending on the type of dispute. For example, in a family law mediation the mediator will attempt to:

1. Understand the viewpoint of each party.
2. Understand the issues and topics that you wish to discuss at mediation.
3. Understand the outcomes that you wish to achieve through mediation.

Although, these objectives are important, they are not the only outcomes that the mediator is seeking to find. In any case, we will review the main objectives below.

Objective 1 – Understand the viewpoint of each party

Generally, mediation is considered an alternative to going to court. Most people consider mediation as a low stress, approach that helps reduce the adversarial nature of court and reduces the feeling of anxiety and fear that court might portray. Mediation Intake is a time when the parties can ask questions about the process, and get help to feel comfortable about the process.

To better understand the perspective of each party, the mediator needs to ask you a variety of relevant questions about how the parties have communicated in the past, and what each party might believe is the best result they are hoping for through mediation. Our mediators are trained to listen and are adept at assisting the parties to voice the reasons that they are attending mediation. This means that the intake session is a time when the mediator will get to understand your point of view. By the end of the intake session the mediator will understand what is important as far as the issues are to you and what you are hoping to achieve.

Objective 2 – Understanding Your Issues for the Mediation  

The mediator will assess whether your circumstances are appropriate for mediation by way of the Mediation Intake session. After conducting an intake session with both parties, sometimes the Mediator will determine your matter is not appropriate for mediation. This will generally be in cases where there might be when someone’s safety is at risk, or in cases where one or both parties’ capacity to make decisions is impacted by mental illness, addiction, or where there is a serious imbalance of power between the two parties.

Similarly, in cases where there might be allegations of physical, sexual or psychological abuse then it may not be at all appropriate for the parties to attend mediation and the court room is the best forum to decide the dispute for the parties. In any case, mediators may be able to work with the parties even when there are circumstances of family violence. The only real way that a mediator can determine whether to proceed with mediation is when each party can be open and transparent about their relationship and any conflict in the past. We encourage the parties to understand that our mediators treat each case with complete confidentiality. Mediators will not judge parties. Mediators must be impartial.

Objective 3 – Understanding the Objective of Mediation.

Mediation Intake will assist the mediator understand how the dispute occurred. Intake helps understand the way each party has attempted to resolve the dispute and how each party communicates. Intake also helps the parties understand their emotions. Sometimes, resolution is stalled because a third party may have been involved. Intake allows the mediator to understand the blockages that have stopped agreements being reached.

The Intake session will help the mediator design a tailormade solution for the parties to resolve the issues in dispute. For example, in a parenting matter, the parents might be in a heightened state of emotions and conflict. They may unable to consider the children caught in the dispute.

The mediator may decide that the mediation can still proceed by using what is called a shuttle mediation. The mediator will use the shuttle process to keep the parents separate from each other while the mediator conveys discussions between the parties. The parties can be in separate rooms in a physical meeting or in different chat rooms if online mediation is used. Parties may also have a support person attend with them. The mediator will seek permission of both parties during the intake session if this is an appropriate method.