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Articles Published by Susan Oberman at Mediate.com

Susan Oberman is a certified mediator working with family and group conflicts since 1987. She developed the Sustainable Knowledge Model of Norm-Educating Mediation. She brings 22 years of mediation experience and scholarship to her work with intact families, community groups, and in separation and divorce. As a Certified Family Mediator in the Virginia J&DR and Circuit Courts, Ms. Oberman assists parties in deciding on child and spousal support, custody and parenting arrangements and equitable distribution. Ms. Oberman was certified in the State of New York in 1987 and by the Supreme Court of Virginia in 1995. She founded Common Ground Negotiation Services as a solo private mediation practice in 1999. Common Ground Negotiation Services offers workshops designed to provide tools and information for mediators, attorneys, therapists, counselors, social workers, consumers, and all who are in relationships, families, and communities. Workshops include: Confidentiality and the Right To Privacy, Conflict As Opportunity, Custody Mediation: King Solomon’s Nightmare, *Defining Mediation Models: A Professional Conundrum, *Identifying Theory and Practice of Mediator Authority, Negotiation Skills for Everyday Life, Recognizing and Overcoming Sex and Gender Bias in Family Mediation, Self & Identity: Individuality, Community and The Intersection of Systems of Domination, *The Norm-Educating Mediation Model, Using Dialogue to Make Decisions. [*Virginia Supreme Court Continuing Mediation Education Credit]

Ms. Oberman was trained by John Haynes of Haynes Mediation Institute in 1986. She worked with the Suffolk County Long Island Community Mediation Center and was certified in New York State in 1987. She was certified in Virginia in 1995 and opened Common Ground Negotiation Services as a solo private practice in 1999.

Susan Oberman has 22 years of mediation and group facilitation experience.

BA Goucher College, 1968.

Norm-Educating mediation is based on the theory that people with all relevant information make better decisions. As one of the categories defined by legal scholar, teacher, and mediation practitioner Ellen Waldman, Norm-Educating mediation encourages the parties gather all relevant information, utilize resources and advisers, and share ideas throughout the process. The Norm-Educating model addresses the concept of sustainable knowledge in presenting information and tools during the mediation that increase interaction, collaboration, and negotiation. The goal is to sustain communication and sharing of information outside the mediation.