I recently finished training for Divorce Mediation.  I now meet the WI Statutory requirement to be a mediatior.  Mediation is a great option for people who want to settle disputes without relying solely on the legal community.  Our trainer, Anne Milne has 35 years experience in the field and was very interesting to listen to.  She used real-life stories from her practice to illustrate the definition of mediation, and the steps to implement.  Mediators are neutral parties who must have the ability to not favor either party.  Mediators assist their clients in identifying issues and what is important to each party.  For instance, in divorce cases with children, a major issue is how will each parent spend time with the children.  This issue can be very complicated when either party has a new person in their life and the other party didn’t want the divorce in the first place.  Sometimes, there is an impasse and mediation has to be stopped.  The Trainor illustrated steps to take if an impasse occurs.  She also stressed that the mediator (as well as either party) has the right to terminate mediation at any time.  Attending the training has given me more tools to use in my personal and professional life.  The training illustrated how even though people going through challenging situations have 2 sides to a story, there is often some common ground to be found to assist a solution to the presenting problems whether they are related to custody, property division, money, etc. that come up when couples divorce.  I highly recommend this training for anyone interested in helping others.