What Does it Mean to Mediate with Empathy?
Understanding The Mind
Mandi Clay is a trained Mental Health Support Group Facilitator and actively uses these skills by facilitating weekly support groups for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). She has also taken the Mental Health First Aid Course and served for seven years on the Florida Bar's Standing Committee on Mental Health and Wellness of Lawyers. Florida Lawyers may recognize her from the many CLEs she has presented across the state on mental health and wellness. Mandi uses this knowledge, and her own personal experiences, to better understand the perspective of each individual party.
Understanding Experiences
Every individual that we meet in mediation has a plethora of unique experiences that brought them to this point. That history creates assumptions, fears, anxieties, and priorities that are different for everyone. Being able to empathize with the parties' lived experiences validates them and allows them to be open about what they really need to resolve the dispute.
Finding Connections
Once you have moved the focus off of the tension of the dispute and toward the freedom of resolution, you can find common ground. When the parties trust that the mediator is one of them and not "part of the system" they let down their guard and are more likely to agree to a resolution - even a creative one - that allows them to move on.