Become a Professional Mediator – Headquartered in Houston, Texas, USA, since 1993
Handicap accessible training venue: ZOOM live!
Texas Justice Center for Mediation and Arbitration in Bellaire off I-610 West Loop.
Ranch Office Conference Room and Virtual Office
Heights Mediation Center
What is Elder Care and Adult Mediation?
Mediation is a structured, although informal process where the mediator, a neutral trained professional, helps the parties involved identify and discuss issues of mutual concern. The process is confidential and voluntary. When necessary, the parties might request the professional services of accountants, financial planners, geriatric social workers, religious leaders, and lawyers. These professional advisors often include caregivers, such as nursing home administrators, physicians, and nurses, in addition to the elder and other interested family members.
How does mediation differ from family therapy, a court decision, or a talk with a social worker?
Mediation is process to move the family forward with a legally binding agreement with the assistance of a well-trained mediator whose tools help the parties become the architects of their solutions.
Why choose mediation?
Who is the mediator?
Mediations are held at her Houston facility in Uptown, at nursing facilities, and parties’ homes, where ever it is convenient for the senior to participate.
We also have a wonderful panel of mediators to choose from. Their bios and rates will be coming soon. In the meantime, Barbara Manousso will help you match your motivation and budget with our team.
How are mediated agreements made?
When is mediation appropriate?
Is mediation right for your family?
Next steps
We recommend beginning the mediation process before a crisis occurs to ensure that thoughtful well-considered strategies for dealing with life transitions are put in place. Mediation can strengthen family ties and enable all family members to deal with the changing nature of their relationships in a way that provides peace of mind and leaves
them with no regrets in the future.
Payment
Mediation is very cost effective if it saves the filing of lawsuit. It not only saves money, but it saves time. Court proceedings can take years to get resolved. A mediation can be held within a few days, sometimes hours, depending on the urgency of the situation. In most cases, the parties divide the hourly cost among themselves. Sometimes, one family member handles the whole payment.
People ask, what will this cost. The real question is what will the cost be if you don’t do mediation! Answer: It all depends on the motivation of the parties to participate in good faith. Generally, the cost will be about $900, divided by all the family members at the table, for up to four hours of mediation. Most family disputes and conversations are resolved in one session. Mediation is usually not a repeat process unless there are many time involved issues, which is rare. Sometimes, the parent or one sibling pays. Our best practice is when all the attendees (parties) each contribute to this rate as best that they can. There is validity to having skin in the game!
When family members are around the world, we can bring them into the process with ZOOM and have them in the room to be seen and heard on our screen, just as though they were seated at the table. The online parties don’t need to be tech savvy. We do all the work, and they click the link that we send them. We can also bring people to the table by phone, but we prefer to see them than just hear.