About Co-Mediation

As a male/female team we bring, where relevant, an important gender balance to the process. We also have diverse backgrounds, both clinical and legal, which give us broad perspectives and resources to bring to the mediation.

Who We Are…

We work as a team, bringing our experience not only as trained mediators but also as a therapist and an attorney to the mediation process. We do what we do because we believe there is a better way than the adversarial system for people to end their marriage or long-term relationship.

CARL D. SCHNEIDER, Ph.D.

Why I Do This Work

I have been mediating and training for three decades, yet I still love this work because I believe that it makes a profound difference for families and children. This work energizes me. I witness the resilience of people who are dealing with great uncertainty, pain and loss. I have seen again and again people choosing to be their better selves, finding ways to honor their marriage vows even in the midst of divorce, and ending a painful chapter of their life in a way that enables closure and healing.

Mediation Experience

A mediator since 1981, Carl's practice has included a broad range of mediation work, including workplace, employment, civil rights, and discrimination mediation. He has mediated with E.E.O.C. cases, CINA (Children in Need of Assistance) mediations, in the United States Post Office's REDRESS mediation program, the Department of Justice's Americans with Disabilities Act Mediation Program, and Montgomery County's Office of Human Rights.

His primary area of work, however is divorce, custody, and family mediation. He has had a successful private practice in Illinois, Georgia, Vermont and Maryland where he has mediated thousands of divorces, both pre- and post-decree. He also is an Approved Mediator with the Frederick County Civil and Family Mediation Programs, the Howard County and Prince George's County Custody Mediation Programs and the Montgomery County Juvenile Dependency Mediation Program.

EILEEN L. COEN, J.D.

Why I Do This Work

Part of what I’ve experienced in my own life is having to deal with a lot of transitions and needing to “reinvent” myself, sometimes under challenging circumstances. I enjoy helping people discover a way forward when they are feeling uncertain and helpless or fearful in the face of change.  It’s a privilege to be a part of people’s lives as they struggle to tap into their inner resources – the compassion, courage, resilience, creativity and wisdom that we all possess, if only we can access it. Every day I find this work to be humanizing and, surprisingly, it gives me hope.

Experience

Eileen has mediated hundreds of divorce cases and workplace conflicts in the private and public sectors. In addition to her work with Mediation Matters, Eileen mediates child custody cases for Baltimore Circuit Court and child protection cases for DC Superior Court. She has also mediated for the District Court of Maryland, the Maryland Commission on Human Relations, the Key Bridge Foundation, US Department of Energy, NASA and the Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County.

Eileen brings her experience as an attorney, facilitator and trainer in cross-cultural communication to her role as a mediator. Previously, Eileen worked as an attorney with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). She has been a trainer with Help Increase the Peace, a national program of the American Friends Service Committee, and a facilitator for the Montgomery County Public Schools Study Circles Program, which helps schools address the challenges posed by cultural and racial differences and their impact upon school performance

Professional

Carl has served on the Board of Directors of the national Academy of Family Mediators and on the Editorial Board of Mediation Quarterly. He has been an Approved Consultant and Practitioner Member of the Academy of Family Mediators. He is a Founding Member of Mediators Beyond Borders.

Carl is a Certified Mediator with the Maryland Council for Dispute Resolution and a Certified Mediator with the Supreme Court of Virginia. He is a registered Clinical Psychologist and a Licensed Clinical Marriage and Family Therapist, and a member of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. He holds an M. Div. from Union Theological Seminary in NYC and a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Eileen is a certified mediator with the Maryland Council on Dispute Resolution (MCDR), where she served as a board member for four years. She is a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) and Maryland Performance for Mediator Excellence (MPME), where she serves on the diversity task force. She is also a founding member of Mediators Beyond Borders.

Eileen earned her J.D. degree from George Washington University in 1990 and is a member of the DC, Montgomery County and California bars.

Eileen lives in Chevy Chase with her husband and two teenage children. When she isn’t mediating, she can be found cheering in the stands at her son’s baseball games or driving her daughter to dance lessons and the mall. Eileen loves to spend weekends with her family at their cabin on the Chesapeake Bay.

Teaching and Training

Carl, the Director of Mediation Matters, has trained thousands of mediators over the last twenty-five years.

He has been on the faculty of Harvard University, the University of Chicago, Indiana University, DePaul University, Woodbury College, the Illinois School of Professional Psychology, and Antioch Graduate School of Education in New England.

Carl has presented widely at professional meetings, including state and regional conferences in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, and Wisconsin, and national conferences of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, the American Orthopsychiatric Association, the Academy of Family Mediators (AFM), the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC), SPIDR (the Society for Professionals in Dispute Resolution), and the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR).

Carl, a widower, has two grown children, Matthew and Candice and one grand-child. When he's not mediating, he may be found on the river in his handcrafted kayak.

Contact Information

9816 Parkwood Drive

Bethesda, MD 20814

Phone:

(301) 581-0330

Email:

[email protected]

[email protected]