Mediation Milanese: An application of systemic family therapy to family mediation

Adolescent development and family dynamics: Delineating a knowledge base for family mediation

“…In order to understand fully how changes in one member of a family (for example, an adolescent) affect the entire family, it is useful to conceptualize the family as an open system. The family system must adapt to the changing demands in its developmental life cycle (Goldenberg and Goldenberg, 1980), that is, the phases and crisis points the family goes through from the birth of a child until that child leaves the household. It is an open system because when one family member changes, all other family members need to change and adapt to the new conditions facing the family as a whole (Gadlin and Ouellette, 1986).…”

“…In the life cycle of a family, individual members pass through a succession of family roles (Goldenberg and Goldenberg, 1980). Adolescence is the stage of the individual life cycle that dramatically affects the family life cycle.…”

Using the “mediatable frame” to define the problem in mediating a parenting plan

“…On its face, then, reframing seems inconsistent with a rational approach to mediation, and more in keeping with the indirect techniques common in family therapy (Anderson and Goolishian, 1988;Johnson and Lebow, 2000;Nichols and Schwartz, 1998;Walsh, 1993). Indeed, its use in mediation seems more consistent with Favaloro (1998) and a handful of others (Benjamin, 1995a(Benjamin, , 1995bBlume, 1993;Blume and Price, 1993;Gadlin and Ouellette, 1987;Grebe, 1986;Marlow, 1985;Mathis, 1998;Milne, 1998;Saposnek, 1987), including ourselves (Irving and Benjamin, 2002), who argue in favor of the utility and effectiveness of therapeutic methods in the service of mediation goals.…”

Therapeutic family mediation: Fitting the service to the interactional diversity of client couples

“…There is ongoing debate in the literature regarding the relationship between family mediation and therapy. Some suggest that mediation and therapy, while bearing a superficial resemblance, are in fact quite different (Gold, 1985;Kelly, 1983). Others suggest that therapeutic change is often a necessary part of mediation (Waldron and others, 1984;Gadlin and Ouellette, 1987).…”

“…Some suggest that mediation and therapy, while bearing a superficial resemblance, are in fact quite different (Gold, 1985;Kelly, 1983). Others suggest that therapeutic change is often a necessary part of mediation (Waldron and others, 1984;Gadlin and Ouellette, 1987). Further, even among those advocating what Milne (1983) has called a therapeutic model, there is disagreement about what constitutes therapy.…”