| Mediation as a process involves a third party (often a | | | | Contracts of any kind |
| neutral third party) assisting two or more persons, | | | | Medical malpractice |
| ("parties" or "stakeholders") to find mutually-agreeable | | | | Personal injury |
| solutions to difficult problems. | | | | Partnerships |
| People make use of mediation at many different levels | | | | Non-profit organizations |
| and in multiple contexts: from minor disputes to global | | | | Faith communities |
| peace-talks. This makes it difficult to provide a general | | | | Other: |
| description without referring to practices in specific | | | | Youth (school conflicts; peer mediation); |
| jurisdictions - where 'mediation' may in fact have a | | | | Violence prevention |
| formal definition and in some venues may require | | | | Victim-Offender mediation |
| specific licenses. This article attempts only a broad | | | | Mediation commonly includes the following aspects or |
| introduction, referring to more specific processes (such | | | | stages: |
| as peace process, binding arbitration, or mindful | | | | a controversy, dispute or difference of positions |
| mediation) directly in the text. | | | | between people, or a need for decision-making or |
| While some people loosely use the term 'mediation' to | | | | problem-solving; |
| mean any instance in which a third party helps people | | | | decision-making remaining with the parties rather than |
| find agreement, professional mediators generally | | | | imposed by a third party; |
| believe it essential that mediators have thorough | | | | the willingness of the parties to negotiate a positive |
| training, competency, and continuing education. The | | | | solution to their problem, and to accept a discussion |
| term is also sometimes incorrectly used to refer to | | | | about respective interests and objectives; |
| arbitration; a mediator does not impose a solution on | | | | the intent to achieve a positive result through the |
| the parties, whereas an arbitrator does. | | | | facilitative help of an independent, neutral third person. |
| While mediation implies bringing disputing parties | | | | In the United States, mediator codes-of-conduct |
| face-to-face with each other, the strategy of "shuttle | | | | emphasize 'client-directed' solutions rather than those |
| diplomacy", where the mediator serves as a liaison | | | | imposed by a mediator in any way. This has become |
| between disputing parties, is also sometimes used | | | | a common, definitive feature of mediation in the US |
| when face-to-face mediations are not possible. | | | | and in the UK. |
| Some of the types of disputes or decision-making that | | | | Mediation differs from most other adversarial resolution |
| often go to mediation include the following: | | | | processes by virtue of its simplicity, informality, flexibility, |
| Family: | | | | and economy. |
| Prenuptial agreements | | | | The typical mediation has no formal compulsory |
| Financial or budget disagreements | | | | elements, although some common elements usually |
| Separation | | | | occur: |
| Divorce | | | | each party allowed to explain and detail his/her story; |
| Financial distribution and spousal support (alimony) | | | | the identification of issues, usually facilitated by the |
| Parenting plans (child custody and visitation) | | | | mediator; |
| Eldercare issues | | | | the clarification and detailed specification of respective |
| Family businesses | | | | interests and objectives; |
| Adult sibling conflicts | | | | the conversion of respective subjective evaluations |
| Disputes between parents and adult children | | | | into more objective values; |
| Estate disputes | | | | identification of options; |
| Medical ethics and end-of-life issues | | | | discussion and analysis of the possible effects of |
| Workplace: | | | | various solutions; |
| Wrongful termination | | | | the adjustment and the refining of the proposed |
| Discrimination | | | | solutions; |
| Harassment | | | | the memorialization of agreements into a written draft |
| Grievances | | | | Due to the particular character of this activity, each |
| Labor management | | | | mediator uses a method of his or her own (a |
| Public disputes: | | | | mediator's methods are not ordinarily governed by |
| Environmental | | | | law), that might eventually be very different from the |
| Land use | | | | above scheme. Also, many matters do not legally |
| Disputes involving the following issues: | | | | require a particular form for the final agreement, while |
| Landlord-tenant | | | | others expressly require a precisely determined form. |
| Homeowners' associations | | | | Most countries respect a mediator's confidentiality. |
| Builders/contractors/realtors/homeowners | | | | |