Marital & Relationship Mediation is a powerful tool to help a couple whose relationship is in trouble. While it is not a guarantee for saving every marriage, it does however offer couples in a relationship an opportunity to address their issues in a controlled environment while working towards possible resolution of the issues in conflict. Marital Mediation is proactive not reactive, it comes into play even before a divorce or separation is on the cards. There are so many advantages for the couple who use a Marital Mediator to help them create an environment to navigate their relationship difficulties. 

Here are some ways in which a Marital Mediator helps a couple whose relationship is experiencing difficulties: 

A Marital Mediator Helps Couples Focus on Improving Their Communication Patterns. 

Mediation is all about communication. The role of a Marital Mediator is to help a couple engage in constructive dialogue. A Marital Mediator both models and teaches effective communication techniques. The advantage of this process is that during the mediation, couples gain deeper understanding of their partner’s feelings and concerns. (A Marital Mediator will not go into the psychological origin of a problem, they merely help a couple to focus on the presenting conflict and to gain understanding of where a spouse may be coming. A Marital Mediator helps a couple to gain insight into where they may be under a misapprehension or have incorrectly assumed something about what was said).  This understanding helps to foster communication patterns that are constructive and not destructive.

A Marital Mediator Helps Couples Deal with Issues in Conflict.

A Marital Mediator is trained to guide couples through the maze of their issues in conflict. Their aim being to help them find mutually acceptable solutions for those issues.  A Marital Mediator helps a couple focus on the current issues in conflict. By doing this,  they help to prevent issues escalating into problems that cannot be resolved. 

A Marital Mediator Helps to Create a Safe Place for a Couple to Identify the Conflict Between Them.

In many troubled marriages, the underlying causes of a problem may not be immediately apparent. The Role of the Marital Mediator is to help their clients identify the core issues that are affecting their relationship. Emotions often run high in troubled marriages, making it difficult for a couple to have a productive discussion. The Mediator will seek to establish a neutral and safe environment for the couple to express their concerns and needs. 

A Marital Mediator Helps Parties Navigate Difficult Conversations in Order to Help Restore Trust and Bring Calm into the Relationship.   

The Role of a Marital Mediator is to seek to create a safe mediation environment so that a couple can feel safe enough to be open and transparent with one another when discussing sensitive and highly emotive issues. Couples who engage in Marital Mediation often report that the process of communicating with one another in a safe environment helped them to gain insight into the other person’s perspective.  This in turn led to them to start to build up their trust for the other person. 

A Marital Mediator Helps Couples to Develop their Problem-Solving Skills.

One of the roles of the Marital Mediator is to help equip their clients with problem-solving skills and techniques. Skills they can use not only during the mediation process, but also in their future interaction with one another. 

A Marital Mediator Helps a Couple Explore their Available Options.

A Marital Mediator helps their clients to consider all the options open to them in order to be able to move forward. This may include their “having the difficult conversation” of whether or not they want their marriage or relationship to work, and if not, what they want to do, going forward. In such instance, a Marital Mediator will help them to explore their future options. The emphasis being on a solution that is amicable and cost efficient and does not cause them or the their children emotional or financial harm.

A Marital Mediator Promotes the Confidentiality of the Process.

Marital Mediation like all other forms of Mediation is a private and confidential process. The couple are ultimately in control of the outcome of their matter and are able to speak to one another in a confidential setting without third party interference.

In a nutshell while Marital Mediation is definitely a powerful tool that can help couples overcome their marital or relationship difficulties,  it may not be able to save every relationship. Some relationships may just not be capable of being resolved whether due to deeply rooted issues or  irreconcilable differences. However, even where the relationship cannot be saved, engaging in this process will no doubt be the foundation for a more amicable and respectful termination of the relationship.