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Mediators for Elders

 
 

We assist elders and their family to communicate with each other and their care providers. Our team helps resolve conflict and facilitate difficult discussions about important family-related decisions.

You can call us on 0402 014 030 

 
 

Mediators for Elders

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We are trained elder mediators who understand the issues faced by elder persons and their families.  Importantly, we understand and appreciate that elder mediation differs from classic mediations.

 
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We work with the elder person, family members and any other significant persons or organisation to develop a process that is flexible and tailored to meet their needs. Our role is then, as mediators, to facilitate discussions between all parties to ensure that everyone is heard, all options are considered and a plan developed to achieve the best possible outcomes.

Elder Mediation - What is it?

Elder Mediation is a unique type of mediation specifically designed for elder people and their families which uses a non-adversarial /co-operative approach to resolving conflict in order to manage difficult family conversations or to make important family-related decisions.

Many families have found elder mediation to be a helpful way which enables everyone to participate in and reach agreement on a plan to resolve their issues.

Elder mediation differs from general mediation by putting the emphasis on the needs and concerns of the elder person while taking into account the concerns of the family.  

It is a specialised form of mediation that provides a framework that protects the rights, safety and interests of the elder people and their families. It is conducted by specifically trained mediators who have an understanding of the issues which are unique to elder people and the areas of concern that arise later in life for both the elder person and their concerned family members.

As trained elder mediators we bring a unique balance of compassion, sensitivity and objectivity to enable the family members to deal with the issues and make wise decisions collectively.

The attendees at an elder mediation may include any person who is either affected by or can contribute to a decision involving an older person. Attendees may therefore include the older person and/or a support person, both immediate and extended family members, and significant other persons such as carers, nursing home or hospital staff, and medical and other allied health professionals.

 
 
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The Benefits

 

Elder mediation benefits elders, their families and others in a number of unique ways depending upon the individuals and the issues involved in the situation. For example, elder mediation:

  • Allows families to create workable and mutually acceptable solutions to their difficult disputes
  • Enables families to develop communication strategies to enable them to successfully work together to make important decisions in the future
  • Ensures respect for the elder’s dignity and rights
  • Helps maintain, improve and even restore family relationships
  • Avoids potentially costly and time-consuming litigation
  • Usually results in a higher degree of satisfaction with the outcome of the mediation compared to a court/tribunal decision
  • Can assist the elder person and family deal constructively with organisations or persons providing assistance for elder person
  • Provides a forum for difficult family discussions around issues like best residential care for Elders and other family concerns such as estate planning

Our Services

We provide elder mediations which are flexible and tailored to meet the needs of the older person and the needs of the other family participants.

Typically, there are two phases to elder mediations:

Phase 1 -Preliminary Preparation

During this phase, we meet and speak individually to each of the participants in the elder mediation process. During this meeting, we explain our role and the elder mediation process and address any concerns raised by the participants.

We also assist each participant to reflect on the current situation, identify issues for the mediation, and start to think of potential solutions to these issues.

We also work with the participants to structure the discussions in a way that takes into account the elder person’s and family’s needs. For example, the schedule and format of group meetings may need to take into account specific needs of the elder person and family members.

Phase 2 – Group Meeting

During this phase all the parties meet together as a group to raise and discuss the issues identified during Phase 1 and then to work together on a plan to resolve all the matters of concern to the elder person.  

The mediator usually also acts as a facilitator between the various parties to ensure that all the parties involved are heard and understood and also that all the options are reviewed and discussed to enable the parties to achieve outcomes and agree to a plan for the future.

The decisions, plans and agreements which form the outcomes of the elder mediation are made by those who are directly affected by the situation - not the mediator.

Co-mediation

Co-mediation involves having two (or more) mediators work together as a team. When conducting elder mediations, our preferred approach is co-mediation as it has a number of significant benefits to the parties involved in the mediations. For example:

  • The mediation team can represent the parties’ diverse characteristics (e.g. male/female, diverse backgrounds, older/younger, etc.) while working together to complement each other

  • Each party is more likely to have a feeling of trust and respect for at least one of the two mediators

  • The parties have the advantage of the combined skills, expertise and knowledge of two mediators, whose skills usually enhance and complement each other

  • Physically, two pairs of eyes and ears can be better than one set. This can allow the mediators to absorb not just the verbal communication from the parties involved, but to take it in turns to assess some of the non-verbal reactions to help bring the parties to common ground.

Our Elder Mediators

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Beverley Foster
Beverley Foster

Beverley has been a lawyer since 1988 practicing predominately in family and workplace law. She was qualified and accredited as a mediator in 2002. She has been registered as an accredited family dispute resolution practitioner since 2008 and has completed the Vocational Graduate Diploma of Family Dispute Resolution in March 2009.

She is also a nationally accredited mediator. She has trained in workplace mediation and elder mediation. She is currently on the Law Society mediators panel, the District Court of NSW panel and the Legal Aid Commission of NSW mediators panel. She has mediated family, workplace, elder and wills & estates disputes for many years as well as being involved in supervising and mentoring other mediators in training over the years.

Chris Pitts
Chris Pitts

Chris has over 10 years of experience in dispute avoidance and resolution and over 25 years of experience in business and management.

He is accredited as a mediator under the national Mediation Standards Board, is a RI Grade 3 Arbitrator, and is trained in both elder mediation and dispute avoidance boards (DABs). He also uses his conflict management training and skills to improve team performance and effectiveness.

His qualifications include Electrical Engineering, an MBA and studies in family and international law, and the role and responsibilities of company directors on boards.

Frances Doyle
Frances Doyle

Fran is admitted as a solicitor for many years. In 1993 Fran first trained as a Mediator and has worked extensively as a mediator since then. She also has an interest in legal education and mediator training. She has lectured and taught law and dispute resolution subjects at UTS, the University of Wollongong, and CSU (Brisbane campus). She has also produced many seminars to assist lawyers all over Australia with CLE and CPD.

Fran is a registered Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner and LEADR Accredited Mediator. She has also been accredited by the Law Society of NSW under the National Mediator Accreditation System.

Ian Blayden
Ian Blayden

Ian is an exploration geologist by profession and this work has involved extensive traveling locally and internationally and working in a diverse range cultural environments often requiring delicate negotiations He has been working as a mediator since 2000 primarily in the area of family law through Legal Aid NSW. Ian is an accredited FDRP and has recently completed training in Workplace Mediation and Elder Mediation.

Judith Blayden
Judith Blayden

Judith initially trained as a High School Teacher before practising as a Clinical Psychologist. She later studied law and them completed an MBA. She practised as a solicitor in the private and public sectors for a number of years before focusing on alternative dispute resolution.

She has extensive experience in mediation, conciliation and facilitation of two–party and multi–party disputes of varying complexity for private, government and not-for-profit organisations over the last 20 years.

Judith is accredited as a mediator under the national Mediation Standards Board, as a Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner, and is a trained elder mediator. She has also completed her training in arbitration and conflict coaching as part of an overall conflict management approach to disputes.

Paul Bell
Paul Bell

Paul Bell is an experienced Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner with more than 25 years of experience.

He has mediated over two thousand family disputes and established the pilot Court Ordered Mediation Program (COMP) in relation to parenting matters in the Family Court and Federal Magistrate’s Court at the Parramatta Registry.  

Paul has also practised as a solicitor for 40 years. He has served in various managerial positions on a variety of community organisations. He was a director on an aged care board for Uniting Aged care for 12 years.

Raymond Brazil
Raymond Brazil

Over the past 20 years, Raymond has provided dispute resolution services  to a range of government and non-government agencies, including the Federal Court of Australia, Administrative Appeals Tribunal , Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) Limited, Workers Compensation Commission (NSW), Housing Appeals Committee (NSW), Centacare Sydney (Family Mediation Service), Child Support Agency (Review Office), Department of Corrective Services, Department of Juvenile Justice and  Health Care Complaints Commission. His areas of practice are working with families, communities and workplace teams to manage conflict and resolve disputes.

Yula Blecher
Yula Blecher

Yula Blecher is an experienced mediator with over 25 years of experience and a special interest in family and elder mediation.  She is accredited as a mediator with the National Mediation Standards and with the Attorney-General’s office as a Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner.

She trained as an Elder Mediator in California, USA and in Adelaide, SA. Yula has also worked as solicitor for many years and combines her experience with Family Law and Trusts and Succession with her mediation skills. She is continually upgrading her skills and knowledge and is also a qualified family group conference convenor and a trained conflict coach.

Pam Richards

Pam has worked with mediation and conciliation for nearly 30 years and likes to assist people to negotiate their best possible agreement.

She has a background in Family Law, Human Rights Practice, and has worked for government in the areas of health, disability and housing.

Currently she works on the NSW Legal Aid Family Dispute Resolution Panel and the NSW Community Justice Centres panel.

 

Contact Us

Please email us at mediatorsforelders@bridgemediation.com.au or fill in this form and we will respond back to you.

You can also call us on 0402 014 030

Address

1/200 Alison Rd
Randwick NSW 2031

 
 

Useful Links

All our elder mediators are members of EMAN.

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Do you use a Mediation Agreement?

Mediators for Elders uses an industry standard mediation agreement tailored to meet the elder mediation process to deliver our mediation services.

Some of the key aspects of this agreement include the following:

  • Participants agree to work with the co-mediators and negotiate in good faith to reach agreed outcomes

  • Participants agree to communicate appropriately and respect all the parties present in the mediation

  • All discussions and information presented during the mediation are Confidential and Private.

We provide all the parties involved in the elder mediation process with a mediation agreement for their review and approval prior starting the elder mediation process.

How long does it take to reach an outcome?

Mediators for Elders work with all the family members to develop a timetable to complete all the activities required in an acceptable time period.

What is the Cost of Elder Mediation?

Mediators for Elders professional services are delivered and based on a time and materials basis in accordance with the mediation agreement.

The estimated cost is calculated using on our standard elder mediation hour rate and our estimate of the time required to complete each phase of the elder mediation process. A full disclosure is available prior to commencement of mediation.

All costs associated with the mediation (room hire, etc.) will be rebilled at cost.

The standard practice with all mediations is for the total estimated cost to be split equally between all the parties and prepaid prior to the start of the mediation.

At the conclusion of the elder mediation process the actual time and cost is reconciled with the estimated time and cost.  We will refund any overpayment back to the parties or invoice any shortfall to the parties for payment to us.