Pamela G. Poon is a mediator and facilitator in Bozeman, Montana
COVID-19 UPDATE: All services are being delivered via Zoom until further notice. Thank you.
For over 25 years, I have provided conflict management services for improving both business and family relationships. My services are compassionate, supportive and confidential. I am a Certified Mediator with Family Designation through the Montana Mediation Association.
As a family law attorney, county attorney and civil litigator, I have seen the benefits of early resolution of workplace and family disputes.
A good mediator helps people come to a fully-informed, voluntary and durable agreement about conflict in their lives. Contact me for resolutions that fit your situation.
Family Mediation
Difficult family conversations can be held more easily with a skilled mediator. Mediation supports self-determination, decreases tension, protects the children, provides flexibility and gives everyone a voice. Unlike court proceedings, mediation is private and confidential. Attorneys can have varying roles from consulting before or during mediation only to attending the entire mediation and drawing up court documents.
Family-related disputes I can help with include:
Divorce and legal separation
Distance parenting or child custody disputes
Child support disputes
Elder care discussions
Family business disputes
Wills and Estate conflicts
After mediation, family members can talk more frankly together, they can craft solutions that work for everyone, and they can look forward to the future.
Workplace Mediation
Workplace mediation helps employees and management resolve serious issues that affect employees’ ability to work together or even their ability to remain in the same position. In some workplaces, collective bargaining representatives have a seat at the mediation table and are needed to approve a final agreement. An experienced mediator can make a difference in these complex disputes.
Civil Mediation
In many civil litigation cases, the relationship between the parties is at least as important as the issues of liability and damages. A skilled mediator takes into account both the substantive issues and the underlying needs and interests of the parties, helping come to a more durable agreement than can be secured after trial. Mediation usually takes one day, ending in a stipulated agreement that is ultimately entered as a court order and enforceable by the court. Attorneys are usually present although they sometimes agree to be available by phone during the process, saving their clients a substantial amount in attorney fees.
Facilitation
Prior Clients
In a complicated world, skilled facilitation makes group decision-making simpler and more effective. A facilitator makes sure each group member is heard, ensures that all opinions are respected, keeps the group moving towards a collaborative decision and helps concretize goals, tasks, key persons and feedback loops. Unlike mediation, facilitation may or may not involve conflict.
I have conducted several hundred mediations, facilitations and conflict management trainings for clients from both the private and public sector. Public sector clients have included the U.S. Postal Service (REDRESS), Yellowstone National Park, Rocky Boy’s Reservation, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Montana Fish and Wildlife, Montana Departments of Justice, Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Montana State University (multiple departments), Montana Supreme Court, and Montana Water Court, among others. Private sector clients have included corporations, individuals, churches and non-profits.
From clients
“I can’t believe I am saying this but I think I am going to let our son move away with his mom so we can preserve our best time together. ”
“Because we first made our own confidentiality rules for the facilitation, I felt a lot safer saying what I wanted to say in the group. Once I did that, other people also said what they really felt and that helped us work together for a strategic plan where everyone had input, a real change from last year’s non-facilitated retreat. ”
