Divorce &
Conflict Mediation
Receive Support through your challenge.
Whether you are considering divorce, navigating a difficult separation, or facing another significant conflict, mediation provides a structured, respectful way to work toward solutions together.
As a neutral mediator, I help people move beyond positions and arguments to identify what matters most, understand each other's perspectives, and create agreements that work for everyone involved.
Mediation gives you the opportunity to stay in control of the decisions that will shape your future.
SERVICES
How I Can Help
01
Divorce Mediation
Receive Support through your major life transition
Divorce is a major life transition. The decisions you make can affect your finances, your children, your living arrangements, and your relationship with your former spouse for years to come. If you share children, divorce won't be the end of your cooperation.
Mediation gives you a chance to address those decisions collaboratively.
Rather than relying solely on litigation and allowing a court to make decisions for you, you and your spouse can work together with a neutral mediator to identify the issues that need to be resolved, discuss your priorities, explore options, and reach mutually acceptable agreements.
The goal isn't to make divorce easy—it is to make the process more constructive, more manageable, and more focused on the future.
Divorce mediation may address issues such as:
- Parenting and custody arrangements
- Parenting schedules and holidays
- Child-related expenses
- Child support
- Spousal support
- Division of assets and debts
- The family home and other property
- Retirement accounts and other financial interests
- Insurance and other practical considerations
- Other issues that are important to your family's transition
Your circumstances are unique. Mediation provides a process for creating an agreement tailored to those circumstances.
1 hr 30 min Sessions· online
02
Conflict Mediation
Conflict is an opportunity to better understand our purpose and values.
People encounter significant conflicts in many areas of life: family relationships, business partnerships, workplace disputes, neighbors, financial disagreements, and other situations where communication has broken down.
When direct conversations are no longer productive, a neutral third party can provide the structure needed to restart the conversation.
Mediation can help you:
- Clarify what the disagreement is really about
- Understand each person's concerns and priorities
- Separate the people from the problem
- Identify shared interests
- Generate options that address both sides' needs
- Reach practical agreements
- Preserve important relationships where possible
The goal is not to determine who is "right." The goal is to help the people involved find a workable way forward.
60 min · In-person & online
How Mediation works
1. Start With a 30-Minute Discovery Call
We begin with a 30-minute discovery call.
This is an opportunity to discuss your situation, learn more about mediation, ask questions, and determine whether mediation appears to be an appropriate fit for your circumstances.
There is no expectation that you have everything figured out before this conversation. The purpose is simply to understand where you are and what you hope to accomplish.
2. Prepare and Participate
If you decide to move forward, parties will gather relevant information and schedule a series of mediation sessions.
Most matters require approximately 2–8 sessions, depending on the complexity of the issues, the number of decisions that need to be made, and how quickly the parties are able to reach agreement.
Each session lasts approximately 1.5 hours.
During these sessions, I will guide the conversation, help identify the issues that need to be resolved, keep the discussion productive, and help you explore possible solutions.
You remain the decision-makers.
After most session you will receive notes about the progress of your mediation.
3. Reach Your Agreements
As issues are resolved, the agreements reached during mediation are documented and refined.
The goal is to make sure that the final agreement accurately reflects the decisions you have made together and provides a clear understanding of what each person has agreed to do.
4. Receive a Mediator-Prepared MOU
Once you have reached agreement, I will prepare a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) documenting the terms you have agreed upon through the mediation process.
The MOU provides a written record of your agreements and can serve as an important foundation for the next steps in your matter.
For divorce matters, you should consult with an attorney about your individual legal rights and the appropriate use or incorporation of the MOU into your divorce documents.
5. Optional Divorce Filing Assistance
If you are mediating your divorce, optional divorce filing assistance is available for an additional cost.
If you choose this service, assistance can be provided with the divorce filing process after your mediated agreements have been completed.
Billing
The fee for Divorce Mediation is $350 per hour.
Conflict mediation is by sliding scale and is context specific.
ABOUT
Marissa
Metelica
Marissa Metelica is a trained mediator, expert facilitator, and social equity consultant with more than a decade of experience helping individuals and groups navigate transition and conflict with greater clarity, empathy, and accountability.
Her approach is grounded, relational, and trauma-informed. She creates a thoughtful, structured environment where each person has space to speak, listen, and participate meaningfully in shaping a way forward.
Marissa has facilitated nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education, city government, and community-based initiatives. Her work developing cultures of belonging and supporting groups through generative conflict has strengthened her ability to remain attentive to multiple perspectives while helping people move toward practical, sustainable solutions.
Whether you are navigating a divorce, family conflict, workplace disagreement, or another difficult conversation, Marissa offers a calm and compassionate process designed to help you move from impasse toward greater understanding and informed decision-making. Her role is not to take sides or decide for you, but to guide a fair process in which the people involved can work toward agreements that reflect their needs and values.
You do not have to navigate conflict alone. With skill, care, and steadiness, Marissa helps create the conditions for meaningful conversation and constructive resolution.
What Makes Mediation Different?
Mediation creates an opportunity to approach the same disagreement as a problem that can be solved.
Mediation encourages questions like:
"What matters most to each of us?"
"What do we both need?"
"What would a workable solution look like?"
"How can we move forward?"
These questions can be particularly important in divorce, where the relationship may be changing but the need to communicate—especially when children are involved—does not necessarily end.
Mediation cannot guarantee agreement, and it is not appropriate for every situation. But when both people are willing to participate in good faith, it can provide a constructive alternative to escalating conflict.