AKA: Conflict coaching + mediation services
If you know anything about Japanese philosophy (I didn't, until I married my husband), you will have heard of the art of Kintsugi. It's a traditional art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with gold-mixed lacquer.
This centuries-old art teaches us that something broken can not only be made whole again, but even more beautiful than it was before. And this is as true for pottery as it is for relationships at work, at home, and everywhere in between.
With this belief, my mission is to help clients through their dispute with dignity and grace - conflict and legal problems don't have to destroy people or their relationships with each other.
Yes, you read that right:
Even where conflict exists, relationships can be restored or reshaped.
For some, what matters is a formal settlement. For others, it's about clarity, closure, or maintaining relationships with new boundaries. Whatever the outcome, my focus is on creating space for you to have a productive dialogue and reach sustainable solutions to move through your conflict and restore what matters to you.
Let's Kintsugi your relationships
Workplace mediation
When you bring together talented people from all walks of life, throw them into an environment they otherwise wouldn't be together, and ask them to work closely, that is bound to surface some tensions and conflict.
Most conflict in the workplace is normal friction that can be managed. But some conflicts become bigger than Ben-Hur if they're not caught early & tackled head on.
You know the ones - the conflicts that:
turn the office into factions
diminish trust in leadership
increase passive-aggressive or avoidant behaviour
create gossip and backchanneling (you know, "the meeting after the meeting")
ultimately plummets the team's performance
This could turn into a formal complaint, a WorkSafe claim, or, at best, create a dysfunctional team and your good people leave. And the option most organisations reach for next is to wait (i.e. avoid the problem), restructure around the problem (i.e. avoid the problem), or move someone sideways or upwards (i.e. avoid the problem).
None of which resolves the problem - it just relocates it!
The workplace resolution process
As Dorothy Thompson so aptly put it: peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict - alternatives to passive or aggressive responses. This is why at Grace + Justice, I firmly believe in tackling the conflict head-on and creatively, through a structured, coaching-led mediation process that is designed to get to a durable resolution.
Conflict coaching is a core part of this process. Before bringing two people into a mediation, it is far more effective to prepare each of them individually. This allows them to be heard, to understand their own responses to the conflict, and to identify what they most need from a resolution - away from the pressure of the other person being in the room. Participants who arrive at mediation already clear on their own needs and interests, and steadier in how they engage, are far more likely to reach an agreement that holds.
In a matter where the working relationship has broken down and feelings run high, this preparation materially improves both the prospects and the durability of the outcome - which is why it is built into the process rather than offered separately.
Why this works
Nobody is brought into the room unprepared. I designed this model after chairing 1500+ mediations and saw what happens when parties came into the room defensive, entrenched in positions, braced for attack, and unclear about what they need out of a resolution.
What clients say
We are grateful and very lucky to have your expertise working with our clients in our small town, you have done wonders with this mediation. My client had a chat with me yesterday afternoon. She said she felt like she was able to get everything off her chest, things she probably wouldn't have shared without you there, and she seemed to be in a really positive headspace moving forward. We will be reaching out again if we have another client needing your support/expertise.
Referring support worker
Youth homelessness organisation
I found Mary to be very caring and gentle with her words, but firm when needed. It worked well with making me think about my actions or words. At no point did I feel uncomfortable with opening up with her, I felt it was a safe place and Mary had genuine care and compassion for us. It's a lot to talk about and take in, but she made it seem easy to do.
Mediation participant, business owner
Mary, I always breathed a sigh of relief when I saw you were the conciliator in my case. As counsel, your calm and balanced approach made all the difference for everyone in that room!
Barrister, Victorian Bar
Grace and Justice Pty Ltd © 2025
0426 535 176
P.O. Box 3089
Doncaster East
VIC 3109