In this excellent blog posting, Dana Westreich Hirt lists twenty things that people going through a divorce - and the many people who know them - might find helpful about divorce mediation:
Divorce is complicated.
Fighting makes everything worse.
Make sure your mediator is neutral.
Informed decision-making is key.
Mediators are trained to reflect your “interests”, not your rights.
Something can be inequitable, but still be legal.
Lawyers get a bad rap.
Mediation is a delicate balance.
Enough with the venting.
One partner is always further along than the other.
Emotional uncoupling is a process.
Mediators are people, too.
It’s not the mediator’s job to solve your problems.
Mediators are bound by ethics of confidentiality.
Co-parenting is not the same as parallel parenting.
“Be brief; be informative; be friendly; be firm.”
Be as positive as possible.
Listen to understand, not to react.
Focus forward.
No parenting agreement is ideal.