Mediation is a platform and a process that seeks to contain, detour and diffuse the energies of dispute and conflict that persons find themselves entangled in due to a host of reasons. Mediation can be a powerful mechanism to assist persons in getting beyond the impasses and seductive energies of blame, disagreement and “enemy making” by way of guided value clarification and identification of non-transformative communication patterns. However peculiar it may seem, at times some persons find that conflict can be a bitter yet deceptively sweet substitute for intimacy and sincerity.
While it could be said that mediation is therapeutic, however, mediation is not therapy, nor is it intended to be a substitute nor a replacement for a therapeutic endeavor. The goal of mediation is one that is future -paced and does not regard the deep excavation of past issues as the way to broker meaningful and collaborative perspectives.