Creative Solutions for Peaceful Resolutions

Families experiencing divorce need more than a settlement agreement; they need a strategy with tools to help support their decisions throughout the mediation process and beyond.

Bennett is a trauma-informed mediation and coaching practice specializing in high-conflict domestic relationships and equine industry disputes. Founder, Brittany Bennett, is a licensed provider of the New Ways For Families® (NWFF®) methods for Mediation and Coaching Programs.

Be empowered by learning new skills to prepare for the mediation process, learn to work together as co-parents, and build a healthy foundation for your family moving forward.

By learning healthy communication methods, you save time and money by working through difficult conversations together and staying out of court post-divorce.

Practice Areas

  • Family Law Mediation

    High Conflict Disputes

    Custody, Parenting Time, Child Support

    Spousal Support and Budgeting for the Future

    Division of Personal Property

    Address Tax and Legal Issues

    Other Issues for Mediation

  • Li

    New Ways For Families® Coaching Programs

    Mediation for High Conflict Disputes

    Pre-Mediation Coaching

    Co-Parenting Classes (hybrid) 12 online classes & 3 -12 Individual Coaching Sessions

    Decision Skills Class for Adults

    Life Skills Class for Young People

  • Equine Law Mediation

    Most Horse-Related Civil Cases

    Breach of Contract

    Landlord/Tenant/Boarding Issues

    Other Issues for Mediation

Family Law Mediation

Give yourself peace of mind by working with a New Ways For Families Mediator® trained in high-conflict family disputes and a trauma-informed lens. Not every mediation is high-conflict; however, you can feel confident the same tools apply when emotions run high.

Mediation is an excellent way to practice working as co-parents with a neutral party who can support you in staying focused on establishing parenting time, budgeting the future, child and spousal support, deciding on personal property division, taxes, retirement, and other difficult conversations.  

A mediator does not provide legal advice and it is recommended that both parties have their attorney review agreements prior to signing and/or consult with an expert with any specific questions or concerns.   

Through collaborative one-on-one efforts with parents, their attorneys, and the judicial system, we can help prepare families for change and move forward with life beyond mediation.

New Ways For Families®

The future for your children is bright when you shield them from grown-up problems by working together as co-parents and modeling healthy conflict-resolution skills.

All NWFF® programming focuses on 4 Big Skills:

  1. Managed Emotions

  2. Flexible Thinking

  3. Moderate Behavior

  4. Checking Yourself

As a licensed provider of the NWFF® Mediation for High Conflict Disputes and Coaching Programs, we provide evidence-based resources with proven outcomes to help reduce stress and anxiety for families as they prepare for change and provide their children with a more resilient future.

Equine Law Mediation

The equine industry has a language and culture that can change across breeds and disciplines. What we share is the horse-human experience and a passion for horses. When disputes happen, mediation offers a confidential way to save time, money, and working relationships.

Brittany Bennett is an equine industry expert, working with industry leaders across the country from all areas, and provides educational opportunities for legislators to share local and national updates.

She is a Board Member of the Michigan Horse Council, Chair of Equine Legislative Day, Equine-Assisted Services national committee member, and a longtime volunteer with Renew Therapeutic Riding Center.

Additionally, Brittany Bennett is an author of children’s horse books and owner of Equinekids. She has negotiated intellectual property across ten countries and eight languages for her book series, which sells across the country in this niche market.

She has been recognized by the Livestock Conservancy (US) and Rare Breeds Survival Trust (UK) for her collaborative efforts with horse organizations worldwide in raising awareness for horse breeds on endangered watchlists.

About

Brittany Bennett, Mediator & Founder

Brittany Bennett, Mediator and Founder of Bennett Dispute Resolution Services, is an author and small business owner with 25 years of business experience within the pharmaceutical, wellness, and equine industries. Inspired by her children, she decided to change career paths after learning that being a child of divorce is one of ten Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) that can have lifelong impacts. She assists high-conflict co-parents in avoiding court by learning new ways to communicate and make agreements through everyday language that is specific and can be enforceable by law.

Brittany graduated from Pepperdine Caruso School of Law with a Dual Master's in Legal Studies and a Master's in Dispute Resolution from the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. Additionally, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Health Communications from Grand Valley State University.

Brittany is an approved mediator for domestic relationships, domestic violence screening, and general civil cases through the State of Michigan. As a volunteer mediator at the Dispute Resolution Center of West Michigan, she focuses on helping high-conflict families find solutions that work for them and help close the court system loop.

Her specialty training is through the High Conflict Institute with Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq, and is a licensed provider of the New Ways For Families® Mediation of High Conflict Disputes and Coaching Programs. She is Brain Story Certified through Alberta Family Wellness Initiative, a collaboration of Oxford University and Harvard University’s Center for the Developing Child.

As a volunteer for the Kent County Area Human Trafficking Coalition, Brittany was invited by a family law attorney and the Michigan BAR to attend The Joseph Project’s training, Legal Responders for Survivors of Human Trafficking. Additionally, she volunteers at Renew Therapeutic Riding Center, where she has witnessed everyday miracles through Equine-Assisted Services (EAS) when working with children and adults across a broad spectrum of disabilities and mental health issues. As a result, she helps raise awareness of EAS to the public and legislators as part of a collaboration of horse organizations nationwide.

Across all industries, Brittany brings her collaborative approach to negotiations and implementation that puts strategy into practice and empowers families through collective storytelling and self-determination.

Safe Technology

Bennett is located in the heart of Grand Rapids, MI, offering online and in-person mediation and coaching services. Your safety and security across all interactions is our top priority.

Be confident from our initial interactions that email, scheduling, and document-sharing are all protected by the same security the US defense team uses. In-person services offer convenient multiple conference rooms, support staff, and building security.

Our online Zoom meetings use the same platform many hospitals use for telehealth and are HIPAA-protected. When requested in advance, translation services are available for online Zoom meetings.

Free 30-minute Consultation and Tech Tutorial

Disclaimer: Bennett Dispute Resolution Services, LLC does not provide legal advice. Brittany Bennett is not an attorney or therapist.  If you need legal advice or have thoughts of harming yourself, please get in touch with an attorney or therapist directly.

Resilient Families

Resilient Families

Through the Alberta Family Wellness Initiative, a collaboration of Oxford University and Harvard University Center for the Developing Child, Brittany Bennett is Brain Story Certified. She is dedicated to helping build a better community across the City of Grand Rapids, MI, by providing families the skills to reduce the lasting effects of their divorce.

The resilience scale is a tool to help demonstrate that with the right skills and a positive support system, you can overcome adversity, in this case, your divorce experience.

The NWFF® Coaching Co-Parenting program was adopted by the City of Alberta, Canada court system and followed families for five years during the Medicine Hat Study published in ***. It showed that when both parents took the class and applied the skills to their families, their reduced stress and anxiety proved an overall Social Return of Investment for the City of Alberta, with 40% fewer police calls for domestic violence, ambulance rides, and ER visits.

Similar results were seen in a retrospective analysis of the Orange County, CA court system after eight years of using the NWFF® Coaching Co-parenting program.

Together, we can provide the City of Grand Rapids with the foundation and resources to help build a future of resilient families.