Consensio Voce

When you're considering bringing a mediator in to help resolve your conflict, you need to go through these steps:

1. Decide what you want from mediation and what type of mediation would be most beneficial in your situation.

There are several different types of mediation, including facilitative, transformative, and evaluative. Most mediators draw from several types but focus on one type.

1. Put together a list of mediators that specialize in the type of mediation you're looking for and review their qualifications.
   You can get information about mediators from many places - friends, family, the web, the Yellow Pages.
2.  
3. Select 2 or 3 possibilities and interview them.
   You may be able to arrange a free consultation to review your situation with a mediator and get some preliminary feedback on whether that mediator would be able to help.
4. Evaluate the information and make a decision.
5. 
   Once you've decided on a mediator, make sure that you've got an understandable, definitive contract before you start the official mediation process. The contract will both help protect you in case something goes wrong and enable you to determine the progress of your mediation process.