 Sharon, I want to thank you so much for letting me come here today and to interview you. What I would like from you today is I want to talk about your experience in mediation. Because of confidentiality, we can't talk about specifics, but I just wanted to ask you some general questions about your experience and how you found mediation. And so I want to start by asking you, when did you first hear about mediation? Oh, well, it must have been when I was, well, I do have children that are in care and some that are with me now. I do have access to them, but in the past I had them with my father at the time. And we were trying to solve somewhere where I had to change my life, you know, all this pressure from my father on his behalf to try to prove myself, you know, for myself. But I, no, I wasn't listening to myself and then I turned things around. I remember my lawyer and my father saying that mediation, do you know anything about mediation? Oh, I don't know. And then I wasn't interested in mediation. I heard a little bit about it, but didn't know so much about it. And now that I have gone through mediation and, you know, nervous still to go in and things have worked out for me, for mediation. And I think it's way better than going to appear in front of a judge. My lawyer has mentioned some things to me, and not just my lawyer, but other people about mediation. And I thought, well, mediation, I got all nervous about, you know, getting that appear in this one room with all these people. And I think out of, you know, spending some time in there, I think, you know, we all got our voices heard, which is nice. I think because I have, I had support there for me and it wasn't just me walking into a room with all these strangers. I sort of felt okay and confident enough to, you know, speak my mind or to hear, you know, both sides, which was really, it was amazing. It just helped me out so much. I think that I'd rather prefer to go mediation than going to court. What was different about sitting down at the mediation table as opposed to going to court? What was different? I think for me it was instead of me going every week, like for them, when you go to appear in front of a judge with your lawyer, your lawyer does all your talking and you don't get to be heard. Where it is with mediation, you have a voice and there's options, there's opinions, or however, even your lawyer could speak together, you have a break, you go back to the room, you listen to the other side. They have a lawyer as well and things get worked out on both sides. For myself, I think my experience is that everybody was, you know, all on the same page and everything was out on the table. Or something could be worked out. Do you think mediation helped you get to decisions faster and clear up problems? Then going to court. Yes, definitely. I think this would work for people that are trying to work things out in either its family or apprehension or however, I think mediation would be a faster way of looking at things and helping the families get the point across. Like I say, both sides. Were you surprised actually? Yeah, I was. And it went very fast. Instead of going to court in front of a judge, instead of putting it off every week or however they go in court, because it's all that paperwork or whatever they do in the courts. So what was different? Why do you think it went faster? We all agreed to something all at once, like, you know, both sides. And it was all brought out on the table. And we got a chance to speak with your lawyer, go over things, which was nice. And the other party went to speak with his lawyer, then we all got together. And it wasn't about, oh, your bad, she's bad. Or, you know, it wasn't about, you know, putting, you know, judging. But it was about how we can solve this by bringing everything together on the table and putting it out. Which was the experience that I went through. And I think things went very well. Now, you know, I mentioned earlier that I was going to be showing this to a group of lawyers and mediators and social workers. Is there anything you'd like to say to that group? I think if they can stop and think and realize that, you know, if it worked for me, it would work for, you know, other families and parents. And, you know, people out there sort of appear in front of a judge. I mean, that's, you know, the mediation seemed very scary for me. But it has helped me and a learning experience for myself. And my relationship with my family, my workers and support, everybody, it's turned me around as well. I'm grateful for what I have. You know, I start off with nothing. Now I have the whole world in my hands again, which is amazing. I have my kids in my ladders. I got a visitation. I have everything. I just, the support's still there. It's changed me inside and out. I mean, going through this instead of going to a judge with your lawyer, like I said, because your lawyer does all the talking. And I've noticed that. And I have a voice. And I'd like people to hear me as well. Sharon, I want to thank you so much for doing this. Yeah. I really, really appreciate it. Okay. Thank you. No problem. Thank you.