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Special Skills or Services:
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Experience working with children and their families during crisis. Newly separated families and/or ongoing separation high conflict.
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Fees and Expenses:
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$100 for intake interview, which includes legal information, options, preparation for mediation. Individual appointments: $125 per hour. Mediation: $200 per hour, plus HST, usually shared between the clients. Handouts and printed resources available to clients at no cost.
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Year Began Mediating:
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1997
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Areas of Practice Experience:
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Child Custody/Guardianship/Access, Child Protection, Child Support/Maintenance, Division of Assets and Liabilities, Intra-family Conflicts, Parent Education, Parent/Elder Support, Parenting Plans, Spousal Support
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Mediator's Comments:
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I believe that families can successfully navigate the transitions involved in separation, both emotionally and financially, with the assistance of a skilled mediator. From my home office I have mediated with many families from the North Shore and Vancouver, assisting newly separated families by presenting a calm overview of the separation process and helping them to focus on their immediate issues and on how to keep their children as the central focus throughout the many changes. Using a model to implement a business relationship between the parents is an essential ingredient for reducing conflict and the emotional tug of war. Mediation can be especially helpful when blended and separating families hit road blocks and feel stuck in conflict. I will provide legal information on the many new topics that families face on this learning curve of separation. I am a Certified Comprehensive Family Mediator (Family Mediation Canada) which gives me the specialized training to assist families with property and asset division in addition to child-related issues including parenting schedules, child support and special expenses. When assisting clients with the negotiation of spousal support I use the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines. Property and asset division requires particular skill and attention, and my clients are encouraged to use both mediation and legal advice from their lawyers, at various times throughout the mediation process. I worked with the Ministry of Attorney General as a Family Justice Counsellor, primarily out of the New Westminster Courthouse, and am familiar with the court related options available to families in both Provincial and Supreme Court.
My background is in nursing B.Sc.(Nursing) and I spent 19 years working with sick children and their families in crisis. My strengths are in my ability to work well with people in many varied situations. I have a Certificate in Conflict Resolution, Mediation and Negotiation from the JIBC. I have completed specialized studies in parent-teen mediation, drug and alcohol abuse, mental health issues, and families in high conflict. I am a Parent Coordinator on the BC Parenting Coordinator Roster. I am the co-author and contract instructor at the Justice Institute of BC for a course on Mediating the Financial Aspects of Separation and Divorce.I am a passionate parent educator and teach workshops in the “Parenting After Separation” education series that are free to families. I co-authored and teach a new course, “Separated With Children – Dealing With The Finances”, that addresses the financial aspects of separation and divorce.
When I am not mediating my own clients I am mentoring new mediators in a practicum setting with the Family Mediation Practicum Program. In 2007 I became the Program Manager. I have been a member of the Board of Directors of Family Mediation Canada since 2006.
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