Transformative Justice Beyond Legal Settlement

Civil mediation in Michigan operates within a court system designed to protect property and profit over people. While the state requires rigorous training—40 hours of SCAO-approved coursework, supervised observation, and ongoing education—most mediators reproduce the same power dynamics that create conflicts in the first place. My approach to Michigan civil mediation centers transformative justice principles that address systemic inequalities rather than simply negotiating around them.

The numbers tell the story: Michigan processes thousands of civil mediations annually, yet accessibility remains stratified by class and power. Community Dispute Resolution Centers charge sliding fees from $25-150 per party, while private mediators command hourly rates that exclude working families entirely. This two-tiered system ensures that those with the least power—renters facing eviction, workers experiencing wage theft, marginalized communities confronting discrimination—receive the least resourced forms of dispute resolution.

Ready to transform conflict into community healing?
Contact me to discuss how civil mediation can serve justice rather than just settlement.

Understanding Power in Civil Disputes

Beyond Individual Grievances to Structural Analysis

Traditional civil mediation treats disputes as isolated conflicts between individual actors. A tenant-landlord disagreement becomes about “communication breakdown” rather than systemic housing inequality. Employment disputes focus on “personality conflicts” while ignoring wage theft, surveillance, and union-busting tactics. Contract disagreements get framed as “misunderstandings” rather than exploitative terms designed to extract maximum profit.

My practice begins with critical analysis: whose interests does this conflict serve, and how do broader systems of oppression create the conditions for harm? This doesn’t mean abandoning practical problem-solving, but rather addressing root causes alongside immediate symptoms. When participants understand how their individual experiences connect to larger patterns of inequality, they often discover shared interests that transcend their immediate dispute.

Research on transformative mediation shows that empowerment and recognition—not just settlement—predict long-term conflict resolution. Parties who develop critical consciousness about their situation are better equipped to prevent future exploitation and build collective power to address systemic issues.

Michigan’s Civil Mediation Landscape

Regulatory Framework and Access Barriers

Michigan requires civil mediators to complete State Court Administrative Office (SCAO) approved training, demonstrate 40 hours of mediation experience, and maintain continuing education[4][7]. While these standards ensure competency, they also create barriers for community-based practitioners who lack formal legal training but possess deep understanding of neighborhood dynamics and grassroots organizing.

The current system privileges professional mediators over community healers, attorneys over advocates, and settlement-focused approaches over transformative processes. Circuit courts maintain approved rosters of mediators, yet these lists often exclude practitioners trained in restorative justice, liberation psychology, or critical race theory—precisely the perspectives most needed for addressing systemic conflicts.

Fee structures perpetuate class segregation in mediation access. Court-ordered mediation can trap low-income parties into processes where they pay for services designed to protect institutional interests rather than their own.

Specialized Applications and Critical Gaps

Michigan civil mediation covers diverse disputes: contract disagreements, neighbor conflicts, landlord-tenant issues, and civil rights claims. Yet specialized training for addressing trauma, systemic discrimination, and power imbalances remains optional rather than required. This means survivors of workplace harassment may encounter mediators unprepared for trauma-informed practice, while workers facing wage theft meet with neutrals who lack understanding of labor organizing and collective action.

The state’s emphasis on facilitative rather than transformative mediation reflects broader ideological commitments to maintaining existing power structures. Facilitative approaches focus on helping parties communicate better and reach mutually acceptable agreements. Transformative approaches examine how conflict reveals opportunities for personal empowerment and recognition of others’ humanity—work that threatens systems dependent on exploitation and domination.

My mediation practice integrates specialized expertise in Religious Trauma Recovery, Workplace Misconduct & Ethics, and Labor Rights & Ethics to address conflicts that conventional mediators are poorly equipped to handle.

Transformative Approaches to Civil Mediation

From Settlement to Liberation

Transformative mediation prioritizes party empowerment and mutual recognition over negotiated agreements. This approach aligns with critical theory’s emphasis on consciousness-raising and collective action. Rather than simply getting parties to “agree,” transformative mediators help participants:

• Develop critical analysis of how systemic inequalities create conflict
• Build personal agency to resist exploitation and advocate for their needs
• Recognize shared humanity across lines of difference and disagreement
• Connect individual healing to collective struggle for systemic change

In practice, this might mean helping a tenant understand that their “difficult landlord” actually represents a system of housing speculation that treats shelter as commodity rather than human right. Or supporting a worker to see that their supervisor’s harassment reflects broader patterns of workplace abuse designed to maintain docile labor. These insights often lead to more durable solutions than surface-level agreements.

Community-Centered Mediation Practice

My approach draws from community mediation traditions rooted in the civil rights movement[45]. Rather than treating disputes as private matters between individuals, community mediation recognizes that conflicts affect entire networks of relationships and require collective healing processes.

This means expanding the circle of participation beyond immediate disputants to include family members, community advocates, and organizations working for systemic change. It means using restorative justice principles[46][49] that emphasize repair of harm rather than punishment or compromise. And it means connecting mediation participants with ongoing social justice movements that address the root causes of their conflicts.

Community-centered mediation also requires accessibility measures that go beyond sliding fee scales. Sessions must accommodate participants with disabilities, provide interpretation services, occur in community-controlled spaces, and link participants with follow-up resources for legal advocacy, mental health support, and mutual aid networks.

Integration with Broader Transformation Work

Connecting Individual Healing to Collective Action

Civil mediation becomes transformative when connected to broader social change efforts. Many participants discover that their individual conflicts reflect systemic patterns affecting entire communities. A neighborhood dispute about noise might reveal environmental racism that concentrates polluting industries in working-class areas. An employment conflict might expose wage theft practices affecting entire sectors of workers.

My practice creates bridges between mediation and organizing by:

• Connecting participants with Community Organizing & Advocacy resources
• Facilitating group processes that build collective power to address systemic issues
• Providing ongoing support through Personal Development Coaching rooted in critical consciousness
• Offering specialized expertise in Trauma-Informed Practices for communities healing from institutional harm

Integration with Legal and Social Services

Transformative mediation works best when integrated with community-controlled legal services, mutual aid networks, and grassroots organizing. This requires partnerships with organizations that share commitments to systemic change rather than simply maintaining existing order.

I work closely with providers of Research & Program Support to document patterns of systemic harm revealed through mediation practice. This data supports community organizing campaigns while protecting participant confidentiality. Sessions also connect with Training & Professional Development programs that build community capacity for ongoing conflict transformation.

The Invitation to Transform Conflict

Beyond Courts to Community Healing

Michigan’s civil courts process over 100,000 new cases annually, yet most disputes remain unresolved at deeper levels. Participants may reach legal settlements while underlying injustices continue to generate new conflicts. Traditional mediation offers brief interventions focused on immediate agreements rather than long-term community healing.

Transformative civil mediation offers an alternative: sustained engagement that builds collective power to address systemic causes of conflict. This work requires courage from participants willing to examine how their individual struggles connect to broader patterns of oppression. It demands mediators trained in critical analysis rather than just communication techniques. And it necessitates community support for participants taking risks to challenge exploitative systems.

Working Together for Justice

If you’re facing civil conflict in Michigan and seeking transformation rather than just settlement, let’s explore how mediation can serve broader goals of community healing and social change.

Ready to begin?
Schedule a consultation to discuss your situation and explore transformative approaches.

Stay connected with ongoing analysis of how mediation can serve liberation movements:

For immediate support with urgent civil disputes, contact me directly to discuss emergency mediation services.

This approach to Michigan civil mediation challenges the assumption that neutral process can address conflicts rooted in systemic inequality. By centering critical analysis, community healing, and collective action, mediation becomes a tool for building the more just world our communities deserve.