Family Mediation: A possible collaboration between a lawyer and a mediator.

Family mediation is a support process for parents who are undertaking a process of

separation and/or divorce, aimed at reorganizing one's life and that of one's children, with a specific focus on the well-being of minors.

Individuals are recognized as having essential and central value, and relational well-being is at the heart of the Family Mediator's work, which works to safeguard the relationship between parents and children in situations of separation, divorce, or other conflict.

Family Mediation is a cross-disciplinary discipline that draws on knowledge from sociology, psychology, and law to develop specific techniques such as mediation and conflict negotiation.

From conflict to well-beingThe Family Mediator is an expert in communication and conflict management.

Family Mediation, even before being a profession, is a social function that supports social utility, and the protection of society must be understood as a "community of communities," a complex fabric rich in traditional places and forms of relationship. Family, scholastic, cultural, and criminal mediation programs therefore build bridges and provide tools for those involved to move forward independently.

The Organization therefore promotes a constructive culture of conflict, shifting from a logic of opposition to one of interaction, identifying the potential for reaching an agreement in the pre-trial phase. It is essential that all legal professionals remain sensitive and open to the culture of Family Mediation for a child-centered and future-centered vision. The Organization offers its services, sometimes even free of charge, as those who collaborate with us view Mediation as a social service and have among their primary objectives the dissemination of knowledge and the culture of Mediation among all legal professionals, lawyers and judges, as well as among the general public.

Family Mediation is a benefit for all professionals involved. Separation and divorce are experiences in a person's life with intense emotional impact.

Strong feelings emerge, from the desire for revenge to grief, clouding people's normal judgment. Everything seems confused in a vortex of emotions that are difficult to manage. The other spouse's behavior is filtered through these distorted lenses, resulting in an escalating conflict that often doesn't even end with the judge's ruling. One of the first professionals people come into contact with is the lawyer, who is given a "dual mandate": one technical and explicit, to manage the negotiation of agreements, maximizing the client's benefit; the other relational and implicit. The lawyer becomes the "confessor," upon whom they pour all their anxieties and desires for revenge, seeking protection and comfort 24/7 (including holidays!). With this emotional shockwave, the client impacts the professional relationship with the lawyer, in a grueling and sad struggle, difficult to contain and difficult to bring back into the reality of the judicial process.

It saves time. The need for listening and protection, for expressing and managing deepest feelings, and for mourning separation are all legitimate in a painful and complex experience like separation. However, they place excessive demands on lawyers, who spend a great deal of time listening to and managing requests, often inappropriate, and implementing formal strategies to protect their clients from behaviors that risk being counterproductive to the cause.

Collaboration between professionals: A good collaboration between the lawyer and the family mediator can allow the lawyer to focus on the technical aspects of negotiating agreements, rather than on the client's endless requests, and this allows the family mediator to offer essential emotional support at this stage.

The Family Mediator is responsible for managing and containing marital conflict, so that it does not hinder the negotiation of agreements.

The agreement negotiation process is facilitated. People who undertake mediation can develop agreements regarding childcare, which become a shared draft on which lawyers provide technical advice, both during the mediation process (when the mediator invites the parties to discuss certain aspects with their lawyers) and at the end of the process, to verify that their client's interests have been protected and to proceed with the signing of the agreements before the judge. Not only is there no competition between the lawyer and the family mediator, but the mediator offers significant support during the negotiation process, without detracting from the lawyer's scope of expertise. Furthermore, in partial mediation, which is not practiced by lawyer-mediators but by professional mediators, all negotiations regarding financial matters and spousal maintenance, not child support, remain outside the mediation process and therefore fall entirely within the lawyer's purview.

Center for the Protection of Family RelationsFor this reason, the "Center for the Protection of Family Relations" and its Scientific Committee were created on May 12, 2016. They provide listening and support to families, civil unions and cohabitations for conflict resolution, family, school, criminal, social and intercultural mediation, with the legal and psychological assistance of an expert team.

The "Center for the Protection of Family Relations" project of the Conciliation Body Concordia et Ius srl was born from the idea of creating a center where experienced professionals qualified in the activities of assistance in interpersonal relationships could be brought together.

By bringing together civil, family, criminal, juvenile, and intercultural and social mediation services in a single center, Concordia et Ius srl aims to become an innovative and highly specialized organization in the field of mediation. Numerous sectors currently utilize this tool, and the number is inevitably destined to grow, as every aspect of social life can benefit from it.

Family Mediation, when provided by qualified professionals, is a tool of great interest to society and is therefore extremely useful.

The Organization's Mediators have acquired various specializations.

In addition to civil mediators, the Organization also collaborates with family mediators, experts in couples psychotherapy, psychologists, social workers, technical consultants, counselors, coaches, lawyers, cultural mediators and all – when necessary – enjoy working preferably in teams.

The Organization's "Center for the Protection of Family Relations" employs numerous professionals who pay particular attention to family relationships and, through their work, aim to support the prevention, management, and resolution of family conflicts.

The position of member of the Scientific Committee is unpaid.

The following professionals are part of the Scientific Committee:

Attorney Mariastefania Bartoli

Attorney Manuela Gucciardo

Attorney Massimo Pollina

Attorney Lorena Geraci