Menu
Menu
We are here to help you turn challenges into opportunities. If you have questions, would like to schedule a consultation, or simply want to learn more about our services, please do not hesitate to contact us. Fill out our form or access one of the options below.
Before submitting your question, please visit our FAQ section and see if your question has already been answered.
It is a safe and confidential space for conversation between members of a couple or family, and the aim is to observe the relationship patterns between them. What one thinks, feels and does impacts the other and vice versa, and how this pattern can be transformed, to better meet everyone’s needs and promote healthy dynamics between them. The goal is to improve communication, address conflicts in a collaborative and appreciative way and strengthen bonds.
Therapy can help in the reflection on identifying, naming and addressing the patterns of behavior and communication that create gaps between members of the couple or family, to generate connection. In this safe and welcoming space, therapy can promote a greater understanding of reality and the expression of feelings, concerns, values and needs, without judgment. As a result, everyone strives to co-construct a foundation based on common values and principles, guiding a healthy relationship.
Therapists are not “repairers” of relationships. Each couple and family is unique, with their own needs and different levels of awareness and commitment to change. Therefore, the therapeutic process is personalized for each couple and family, and the internal time for each person may be different. Normally, the meetings are weekly, unless, for any reason, one of the participants has a restriction on this frequency. I usually meet every 3 or 4 months to analyze where we are in the process and adjust the course, if necessary.
In an ideal world, if everyone participates in therapy, the results are much more efficient. Dealing with reality as it presents itself, the therapist can work with a member who is part of the marital or family system. During the sessions, the therapist encourages reflection on the expansion of awareness about conflicts and the consequent self-knowledge, self-care and self-compassion, and on how to develop strategies to improve the dynamics of relationships in a couple or family.
In the first session, the therapist is interested in learning about the needs that bring them to therapy, from the perspective of each member, and also in providing basic information about how the therapist works, duration, frequency, fees and payment methods. If clients want to participate, starting the process, the therapist asks the members to tell a little about the history of the relationship and where it stopped being healthy, in order to establish an initial treatment plan.
The benefits of couples and family therapy can be obtained during the process, as long as the reflections on objectives and goals worked on in the sessions are put into practice. Some of the benefits available from therapy include:
• It brings awareness that couples and families are human systems, and each person’s behavior impacts the other and vice versa
• It develops self-knowledge, self-awareness, self-care, self-esteem, self-responsibility and self-compassion, to better understand oneself and others
• It develops skills to manage stressful and challenging situations, which may be generating anxiety, insomnia, depression and several other types of illnesses
• It improves problem-solving skills in relationships with others, generating the strengthening of marital and family bonds
• It changes old patterns of behavior and develops others that generate connection, security and well-being
• It improves communication and listening skills, creating a welcoming and loving environment
Mediation is a safe, respectful, trustworthy and collaborative space, facilitated by the mediator, where people, who are experiencing challenging situations, give each other the opportunity to talk and listen to each other’s perspectives. Therefore, the principle of autonomy of will is respected – they only participate if they want to. From this meeting, they decide, for themselves, to co-construct a sustainable understanding that meets their needs, for the greater good of a healthy relationship.
Some of the advantages of mediation:
• It raises awareness and the desire of people to manage conflict, through improving respectful communication between them
• It creates the opportunity for those involved in the conflict, through dialogue, to create ideas and possibilities for understanding, respecting differences
• It creates the need to make room for trust and for assuming responsibility, in facing problems
• It avoids the escalation of conflict, minimizing physical, emotional, mental and spiritual wear and tear
• It focuses on friendly and cordial relationships between people
• It improves the ability of those involved, to deal with future conflicts
• It reduces possible hostile and rivalrous climates
• It reduces fights, insults, complaints, threats, violence etc
• It reduces financial losses, since it is less costly than the judicial process
• It reduces the occurrence of more litigation and lawsuits
• It enables quick and effective results, generating satisfaction for all involved
• It guarantees privacy and confidentiality in the conduct and management of conflict situations
Lawsuits can cause great emotional distress, since there is no dialogue or possible understanding between the litigants. They hand over the common problem to a third party to “solve”. It is clear that the costs of the lawsuits become very high, the wait for a court decision, in this case, is usually long and the results depend fundamentally on external factors, therefore, unpredictable. When mediation is triggered, everyone involved wins, and it is completely confidential. Whoever discovers mediation, regains their humanity!
One of the people involved in the conflict contacts the mediator, informing him/her about the demand, its context (marital, family, organizational, school, condominium, etc.) and who the actors in the issue are. If it is possible for this person contacts everyone, a meeting is scheduled so that they can be present. If it is not possible for the person to inform the other actors, mainly due to communication noise, the mediator can do so. By agreeing to participate in the information meeting, the professional will explain the mediation process and answer any questions. This meeting is very important so that the participants can learn about and decide whether or not they wish to participate in the mediation. At the end of this information meeting, if they decide to participate in the mediation, the mediation contract is signed, as well as the confidentiality agreement, since everything discussed in the meetings is confidential. If some want to participate and others do not, depending on the case, the mediation can begin only with those who gave their consent. If no one wants to, the information meeting ends.
Each meeting can last up to 1 hour and 15 minutes, with a weekly interval, or another interval chosen by the clients. The meetings can be joint and/or private (with only one of them). The mediator uses the resource of private meetings, when he/she identifies that it will be useful for the mediation process, and the same opportunities are offered to all participants.
The participants in the mediation process are those who are experiencing the conflict and who have the power to make the necessary decisions. They may be accompanied by their lawyers, and when one is present and the other is not, the meeting will be rescheduled so that everyone is going to be represented by their respective lawyers. In addition to the lawyers, the clients may bring other people who are indirectly involved, as long as all participants agree to their presence.
Lawyers have a very important role in mediation. They are the ones who guide and inform their respective clients, both in their offices and in mediation meetings, about the legal aspects involved in the negotiation, as well as about the drafting of the agreement, so that it can be approved by the judge, if applicable. If lawyers are unable to attend all mediation meetings, it is extremely important that they participate in the information meeting, as well as in the agreement closing meeting, where the participants will share directly with their attorneys the conclusions they have co-constructed for each item on the agenda, ensuring that all needs and interests have been considered.
Mediation is useful for all impasse situations in which the people involved feel powerless to address them. This includes people who may be able to maintain an ongoing relationship after an agreement has been reached, for example, a divorce involving children, in which parenting needs to be managed responsibly. It is also useful for people whose social conduct interferes with third parties, such as neighbors. It is also useful for those who will have to continue negotiating other issues over time, such as partners and/or teams within a company and/or between a company and suppliers, etc.
All Right Reserveds © Helena Mandelbaum • Privacy Policy
Developed by
