Tears and shouting are a normal part of Mary Egan and Janet Dunlop's working day. As mediators for Family Mediation London North West, they help families negotiate the complexities of separation, including the issue of contact with children. Their offices are painted in neutral shades but these small rooms with their beige chairs and obligatory boxes of tissues are the backdrop to fraught scenes where emotions run high and the language is often colourful.
There is conflict in even the most amicable of splits, explains Egan, a mediator for 18 years. "In many ways my job involves a lot of bereavement work, because the end of a marriage is a death and people have to grieve," she explains. Caught up in the middle of this are the children. Often Egan will ask parents to show her photos of their children to help focus on why they are there.
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