Separating?

Marital Separation is often the most difficult and challenging time in a person's life...  Help is Here!

Are you or someone you know going through a separation? This is often a confusing and stressful time...

Most people in this situation have many questions and are concerned about going through the process in an economical, timely and respectful manner.
Questions like, What about the children?, Who gets what?, What about support? What do we tell the kids?... need to be answered.

Couples often want help to resolve their differences in a respectful manner as quickly as possible so that you can move forward with your lives. Most people don't want this to take a long time, go to court, or spend a lot of money.

Mediation is the best way to help you resolve your questions through assisted negotiation. As a neutral third party, I help you develop a solution, called the settlement agreement, which you will both support.

This agreement is far more likely to continue to be supported as it has been developed by you. The mediation sessions are private, flexible and informal.

A major concern when working with couples separating is the effect that your separation can have on your children. Even though people may choose to not be married, they do not choose to divorce their children and often need help in re-forming their relationship from a marriage to being co-parents. I will help you with developing an appropriate parenting plan and work on your parenting relationship.

Benefits of mediation are:

1. Where children are involved, the focus is kept on the best interests of your children, to develop an effective plan for the children involved.
2. The ability to resolve issues in a way that suits you and enables you to directly affect the outcome.
3. An opportunity to speak directly to the other person about issues of concern in a neutral and safe environment.
4. An opportunity to learn skills for better communication and cooperative problem solving for the future.
5. Often more cost effective, less time consuming and simpler than court processes.
6. Can reduce tensions and alleviate an adversarial atmosphere.
7. The process is private and confidential.

Mediation promotes open and respectful communication. The process allows you to examine your interests and concerns, explore a variety of creative options and develop your own solutions in a timely and cost-effective manner. Issues of co-parenting, asset division, spousal support, child support and blended families will be addressed as required.

Separation Counselling

I also provide counselling to support those people who are going through this process who may be using an alternative to mediation. It’s often helpful to speak with an objective, non-judgmental person.

If you know of someone who may be going through a family breakdown, have them call or email me to set up an appointment.

There is more information available on my web site as well as other helpful links. Just click on the web site link below. I have been educated and trained through York University (Alternative Dispute Resolution), George Brown College (Counselling) and the Ontario Association of Family Mediators (The Mediation Centre) and have conducted mediations for over 20 years
.
www.CounsellingandMediation.com
(705) 999-2107
(905) 510-9117
Leland@CounsellingandMediation.com