As the population ages, it is more common than ever to hear that a friend or family member is struggling with difficult care-giving decisions for an older loved one in a nursing home or care facility. While mediation has proven to be an effective process for clarifying issues and settling other types of disputes, until now institutionalized adults and their families facing conflict have not enjoyed access to the mediation process. Long term care mediation encourages conflict resolution through neutral fact-finding in a safe and confidential setting. A third-party neutral facilitator (the mediator) ensures the wishes of the older adult, family members, and other health care staff can be heard and considered. In this role, Baltimore Mediation can bring peace to elderly clients, wishing to avoid conflict during this latter part of life.
There is little doubt that care-giving is associated with increased family conflict and with heightened concerns and anxieties about neglecting other family members. When family members are willing to participate, family counseling can be effective in addressing these issues. Baltimore Mediation can act as an alternative to counseling or therapy.
Mediation provides a unique tool in such cases for elders, families and caregivers to move beyond impasse into positive decision-making that meets the needs of all parties, while, in many cases, avoiding costly and unnecessary long term care services. Family care-giving mediation, like general mediation, provides a cooperative, non- adversarial setting for families to discuss their concerns in privacy and with confidentiality. The mediator serves as a neutral facilitator who has no connection to the case or situation The mediator does not decide the outcome or determine who is right or wrong; and there is no force on the disputing parties to reach agreement – it is a consensual process in which all parties must agree in order to have an agreement. The mediator listens to the concerns of all the parties and their ideas on how the matter might be resolved, facilitates the conversation, and helps the parties develop and agree upon a workable solution themselves.