The vision of Above and Beyond Conflict is to preserve families one mediation at a time. Preserving the family involves a mediation agreement between divorcing parents to co-parent their children in a loving, nurturing environment even though the marriage has ended. Preserving the family involves a mediated plan for the future of an elderly or disabled family member in which caring stakeholder agree upon actions and/or roles. Preserving the family involves mediation between estranged parents and children between siblings to heal old wounds and help the family to become whole once more.
An important part of our vision is self- determination. The participants make all decisions. The mediator guides the process and facilitates communication. Structuring the process helps the participants to focus on one issue at a time and look to the future. As mediators, we model good communication skills such as active listening, clarifying, and reframing which serve to educate the participants for enhanced communication in the future.
The partners, Marti and Georgia, started Above and Beyond Conflict in the third trimester of their lives. They want to use the experience they have gathered in over seven decades of living and fifty+ years of being part of a professional community.
Above and Beyond Conflict rose from the rubble of the partners’ individual divorces. They vied
with each other to be kind and helpful to former husbands and the husbands’ new significant others for the sake of their children. Georgia invited the new couple to go on vacation with the family during the Thanks giving holiday. Not to be outdone, Marti invited her children’s father and his wife to celebrate Christmas with their children and grandchildren at her home. It was a friendly contest for the “Above and Beyond” award that Marti and Georgia initiated and was awarded in December each year.
Marti and Georgia had been therapists and mediators for many years when they decided to form Above and Beyond Conflict, LLC. They offer a unique service to families seeking to resolve internal conflict without resorting to the legal system. The Above and Beyond Conflict mediators believe that the participants in the mediation process have the answers within themselves and need encouragement and a safe place to express needs and propose solutions.
Above and Beyond Conflict offers a traditional mediation process during which the parties face each other and express their concerns and feelings. This approach is intense but less stressful and less expensive than a court battle or a negotiated settlement conducted by lawyers, sometimes without the presence of the parties.
The partners constantly read and research techniques that will improve the process of mediation. Atlanta Magazine recognized Above and Beyond Conflict for work with neuroscience in mediation.