Providing dispute resolution services for individuals, families And small businesses in Northern Illinois

What is Mediation?

Evanston Mediation Center creates an environment where clients can confidentially communicate about their dispute. The mediator will work to help each participant improve communications by encouraging active listening, healthy dialogue and a better understanding of the other party. Finally, the mediator will facilitate the parties’ creation of comprehensive and mutually acceptable resolutions. Throughout the process, Evanston Mediation Center works to focus the participants on their individual and joint interests or needs in an effort to reach mutually acceptable agreements.

Mediation is a voluntary process in which two or more parties involved in a dispute work with an impartial party, the mediator, to settle their conflict.

Benefits of Mediation

Privacy

Direct communication

Clients control the process

Clients determine the solution

cost and time effective

For your convenience Evanston Mediation Center provides the option of conducting mediation through video conferencing.

Mediation Services

Evanston Mediation Center offers a variety of mediations services:

PARENTING MEDIATION

Parenting Mediation can occur before, during and after the parents’ separation. Evanston Mediation Center can help parents develop a framework to handle future co-parenting decisions regarding their child’s well-being and the division of parenting time.

Divorce Mediation

Divorce mediation can occur after a breakdown in the marriage to help couples settle property division in a non-adversarial way. Evanston Mediation Center can help couples reach a settlement agreement that they can live with through a process that is entirely controlled by both of them.

Business Mediation

In small businesses relationships can effect productivity and the business’s reputation. Evanston Mediation Center can help companies resolve internal and external relationship issues involving financial conflicts, coworking problems, leadership succession and consumer disputes. By working together through a trained neutral mediator to employ problem solving strategies a business can strengthen its operation and reputation.

Estate Distribution Mediation

A family member can be designated as acting trustee to distribute the estate amongst heirs and even to themselves. This situation can be stressful, confusing, and emotionally draining. Having a neutral third party can remove the burden a trustee may feel. Evanston Mediation Center strives to encourage communication, minimize conflict, and perform a fair estate distribution that aligns with your loved one’s last wishes and creates harmony among the family.

Community Mediation

Evanston Mediation Center helps create strong communities by efficiently resolving disagreements between community members. Through open communication and engaging clients to explore commonalities, mediation enables the members to structure a mutually beneficial resolution.

Our Mediator

Ashanti Madlock Henderson is an attorney and certified mediator. As a successful mediator, Ashanti is objective, independent and listens to the parties. It is the parties and not the mediator who control the outcome. As your mediator, Ashanti works to create an environment that is conducive to effective communication and to help each party state their views in a way that can be heard and considered.

She works to create opportunities for the parties to look at various options for them to reach a resolution. Ashanti uses her skills in conflict resolution to help clients resolve areas of disagreement. Evanston Mediation Center applies an individualized approach to mediation. Each session is tailored to meet the needs for that set of clients and that dispute. Mediation consists of private sessions with the mediator and one party and joint sessions with the mediator and all parties.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Should we use a mediator?

Mediation is helpful when people have a dispute that they have been unable to resolve themselves. Sometimes this is because prior discussion ended up as heated arguments. Other times it is because someone doesn’t feel heard and has shut down communication. Mediation provides a neutral, confidential and safe space for each participant to speak, listen and explore solutions. A mediator understands the ways in which independent conversations can become derailed and helps the participants to stay focused. By facilitating the discussion, the mediator helps the participants work towards an agreement.

How long does mediation take?

There is no set time period for mediation because in every mediation session the issues are different and the number of people participating varies. Mediation session at the Evanston Mediation Center are customized for each set of participants. Mediations can run in three hour sessions. More than one session may be needed to thoroughly address and resolve the issues of concern. Some participants prefer to do one long session, up to a full day. The mediation process goes at the pace the participants set. They can take the time needed to discuss what’s important to their situation and work on a timeline that is best for them.

What happens once an agreement is reached?

Once the parties have reached agreements on the issues a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is drafted detailing the agreement. Any party may consult with a lawyer to obtain legal advice to fully understand his/her legal rights, options, and the consequences of decisions prior to or after an agreement has been reached.

What should I do if I am interested in mediation?

If you are interested in learning more about mediation, please contact Evanston Mediation Center. We will be pleased to answer your questions about mediation and its appropriateness for your dispute. If you would like to move forward, we will gather more information and discuss appropriate scheduling.

What geographic areas does Evanston Mediation Center Serve?

From our Evanston office we serve clients throughout Northern Illinois, including, but not limited to Skokie, Wilmette, Highland Park, Northbrook, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Winnetka, Glenview, Niles, Park Ridge, Rolling Meadows, Chicago, Maywood, Bellwood, Broadview, Oak Park and Forest Park.

Contact Evanston Mediation Center for Caring, Confidential, Client Controlled and Cost-Effective Mediation Services.

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DISCLAIMER: The information contained within the Evanston Mediation Center website is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal advice. You should not act upon this information without seeking professional legal counsel. An attorney-client relationship is not automatically created as a result of any communication or contact arising out of any information obtained from this website. Moreover, an email generated from a link on this website does not create an attorney-client relationship. Please do not send us confidential information until you have spoken with one of our lawyers and received authorization to send that information.