ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the ways in which mental health professionals (MHPs), working as mediators, in conjunction with mediators, or in various ancillary roles, can assist individuals and couples to move beyond their destructive and oftentimes paralyzing emotions, conflict, and difficulties. Family mediation can address the needs of families and still offer self-determination and mutually satisfying decisions that may occur outside the court system. It is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that is geared toward helping couples and their families resolve their marital disputes amicably by taking into consideration the emotional, relational, and financial estate. Divorcing couples must make decisions related to financial matters as well as the sharing, caring for, and co-parenting of their children. Many questions arise about the frequency of contact that children need and the amount of nights away from parents that children can tolerate during the earliest stages of development.
