So why am I a better alternative that Court?

• Immediate appointments - no long waiting lists (as is the case with some big agencies). No waiting around for months on end to be seen. I give you the opportunity to get results and wrap up your case weeks or months sooner than with many of the agencies.
  
  
• Years of training and knowledge - trained to work in the Australian Family Law System, I understand the family law processes involved and I am authorised to issue s60i certificates (if you end up needing one for Court).
  
  
• Neutrality – renowned for being down-to-earth, practical, yet sensitive to your emotions; as a relationship counsellor and mediator, my extensive knowledge of how relationships work and break down allows me to view your situation from both points of view, without being swayed. Instead you can benefit from my ability to negotiate the situation unbiasedly and fairly. (And guess what? Years of experience mean I’m not biased if I don’t hear your story first.)
  
  
• Financial qualifications – I am not only a relationship counsellor and mediator. With a commerce degree and business experience under my belt, I understand real life and complex financial matters, enabling you to quickly resolve property and financial disputes without having to hire an additional party.
  
  
• Experience in the family law system – I’ve mediated hundreds of cases and write easy-to-read and clear mediation agreements that you can take away for yourself or hand to you lawyers; I can also run lawyer assisted mediations, giving me a wide breadth of expertise in the family law system.
  
  
• Video Conferencing and Electronic Whiteboard – mediate effectively with a partner who does not live in Canberra. Have copies of your agreements in Microsoft Word and Excel read to edit or email on to other parties.
  
  
• Voluntary and safe: mediate together or at a distance  –  whether you feel more comfortable being in the same room, or safer being separated in separate rooms or with one of you on the phone or videoconferencing, mediation makes it possible for you to have your voice heard, and empowers you to make constructive input into shaping your own future. If you are unhappy with how the process is going, you can terminate it without having to pay anyone else’s expensive legal costs.
  
  
• Empowerment – you are the one who has to live with decisions made, so don’t let lawyers or a judge decide what happens with your future. Remember, plans made in mediation can be much more detailed – at Court you only get the basics about days and times, and find when you get out of Court you still might be arguing the finer details.
  
  
• More chance of avoiding long term conflict – It has been proven that mediation leads to less conflict in the long term. It is just the way the legal system works – each wins a case by “proving” they are right and the other wrong. Or worse, winning by running down the person you once loved in order to “win”. Unfortunately a “win” at Court is often a “loss” for the future wellbeing of the whole separated family.
  
  
• Confidentiality – the family law regulations provide strict guidelines about the confidentiality and admissibility of things said at mediation – unfortunately only accredited FDRPs receive these protections. Non-accredited mediators, counsellors and psychologists do not offer you the same confidentiality protections that I can.
  
  
• Come back to mediation whenever you like – and at a fraction of the cost of returning to Court or lawyers. Clients find that once they know me they are happy to come back and sort out any future problems as they begin, before they get out of hand.
  
  
• Child-informed mediation – I am trained in child informed mediation and use it where necessary - judiciously and carefully - to offer your children the chance to speak out about their future, their wants and their needs, free from pressure. Sometimes I bring a consultant in if I feel it important to stay in a neutral mediator role. 
  
  
• Modern, comfortable and well located office in Manuka with free rear onsite parking
  

Contact me to arrange your pre-mediation individual appointment.