"Mediation helps preserve resources and relationships."
Conflict happens between members of work groups, civic groups, church groups, friends, spouses, parents and children.  How one deals with conflict is a determining factor for conflict resulting in creative, dynamic groups and relationships or in hurt feelings and destroyed relationships.

In an effort to maintain harmony in your personal and professional lives you often use an avoidance conflict style that over time produces the opposite result.  Most people perceive conflict as a negative to be avoided.  They spend little time developing skills to use conflict as a creative source of energy in decision making or in a relationship.

Engaging in a mediation process with the help of a professional mediator can result in an outcome that provides relief in the present situation and hope for a better relationship.  By working with a professional mediator, you will, also, develop conflict resolution skills that can be of value in future conflict situations.

Mediation is a process that focuses on the resolution of conflict with the assistance of an impartial third party, a professional mediator.

Mediation can be court ordered or sought voluntarily by parties involved in conflict.

The mediator involves the parties in a process to:

• clarify issues in dispute,
• determine if additional resources are needed,
• develop options for resolution, and
• create a plan to implement the agreed upon solutions.

Faith community Mediation and Training Services are available through the Clergy and Congregational Care Program at Pastoral Counseling & Education Center. Mediation and Training can be conduct at your location or at PCEC.

Mediation Services include staff and employment issues, family disputes, business contracts and implementation disputes, and disputes between individual members or families. Church wide disputes can also be mediated. These disputes often involve disputes over worship style, building programs, staff relations, or disputes with the neighborhood.

Family Mediation Services are designed to assist families preserve their financial and emotional assets.  The need to disengage or redefine family relationships does not have to result in the demolition of a family's past or estrangement in a family's future.  Divorce does not have to end in disaster.  Family decisions regarding parents, children, or inheritance do not have to be a source for constant conflict and damaged relationships.  Mediation provides an alternative for people who want to resolve conflict from a faith perspective without dissolving their financial, emotional, and spiritual future.

Training Services include seminars on Basic Mediation, Family Mediation, Team Building, Trust Building, Strategic Planning, and Peacemaker Skills. Custom training and consultation on conflict resolution strategies are available on request.

Contact Dr. Nancy K. Ferrell at PCEC (214-526-4525) or email her for more information.

Click HERE for a schedule of training and additional information about mediation services.