Mountain Mediation Program director Kris Campbell said the new family mediation program is supported with a $50,000 Women’s Giving Fund grant received last summer. The program provides mediation services on a sliding scale to serve all community members.
“This is helping people resolve conflicts around divorce or custody or child care and doing that in a way that people can afford to access that service,” Campbell said.
Board member and family law attorney Anne Cameron, who now runs her own mediation practice, helped put together a group of four high-caliber mediators who are donating their time to this project.
She said using mediation, rather than going through the court system, can be less expensive and less emotionally taxing.
“Going to court is very, very expensive, both financially and emotionally,” Cameron said. “So, mediation is not easy, but if people are willing to sit down and have those difficult conversations, yes, it is much more cost effective, and especially with the Mountain Mediation project, we work on a sliding scale.”
She also said mediation agreements that are signed by both parties and written by an attorney are binding contracts and can only be changed by going to court.