Mediation succeeds when both parties can name what they want. These workbooks close the preparation gap — the one that turns a three-hour session into an eight-hour one. Send them before the session. Your clients arrive with positions and the interests underneath them. Mediation starts where most sessions end.
Interest-based mediation works when both parties can articulate what they need. The preparation gap is the gap that turns a short session into a long one. When parties name their interests before they arrive, they walk in ready instead of discovering them in the room.
Each workbook is a structured set of questions that walks a party through their position and the interests underneath it — what they want, what they are afraid of, and what resolution can look like. They complete it privately, at their own pace, through any format they prefer.
Send both parties the Pre-Mediation Workbook at least five to seven days before the session — two weeks is better. The real value is in the days between completing it and walking into the room. They sit with their answers. They arrive ready.
Both parties have already named their position and the interest underneath it. The session can move from discovery to resolution instead of spending the first hours excavating what each party needs. You start where most mediations end.
For ongoing relationships — co-parents, business partners, neighbors — the Partnership Workbook builds the operating agreement that carries the resolution forward. Signed, specific, ready to act on. The document does not end the conversation. It is where the new relationship begins.
Your mediator has sent you The Pre-Mediation Workbook. Please complete before your session. Tap to begin.
Chapter 2: What you bring
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Maya & Darius Thompson — Houston, co-parenting mediation
Separated eight months ago. Three-year-old Elijah. Two attorneys. Neither parent can say what they want for him — only what they don't want the other parent to have.
"I know what I'm asking for. I don't know if it's what I need."
Their mediator sends the Pre-Mediation Workbook and the Custody Vision Workbook two weeks before the session. Maya completes hers in the evenings after Elijah goes to sleep. Darius completes his over a weekend. Neither shares the results with the other. They both arrive having named what they want for their son — not what they want from the settlement. The first session runs three hours instead of eight. The second session produces a signed custody framework. The mediator's notes: "First time in three years I didn't spend the opening hours untangling positions from interests."
For your practice: The preparation workbooks moved both parties from positional demands to named interests before anyone sat down. The mediator facilitated an agreement instead of a discovery session.
Browse the Custody Vision Workbook →James Okafor & Chen Wei — San Francisco, business partnership dispute
Business partners of six years. Revenue split disagreement that has calcified into a values conflict. Both want the partnership to survive. Neither knows how to say that without sounding weak.
"We built something real together. I'm not sure we know how to protect it."
Their mediator sends the Pre-Mediation Workbook and then, after resolution, the Partnership Workbook to build the operating agreement that replaces the informal understanding they'd been running on. James and Chen Wei each complete the pre-mediation workbook privately. They arrive having named what they value about the partnership — not just what they want changed. The session produces a restructured revenue agreement and a signed Partnership Charter covering decision-making, conflict resolution, and the terms of the ongoing relationship. The partnership survives. It is now documented.
For your practice: The post-resolution Partnership Workbook gave the business partners a structure for the operating agreement they had been running on informally — and gave it a signature that both can point to.
Browse the Partnership Workbook →Rosa Martinez & Beth Donovan — Denver, divorce and asset mediation
Divorcing after twelve years. The asset list is clear. What Rosa and Beth can't name is what each of them needs to feel that the outcome is fair — not equal, fair.
"I know what I'm entitled to. I don't know what I can live with."
Their mediator sends the Asset Clarity Workbook and the Pre-Mediation Workbook before the session. Rosa works through the asset questions over several evenings. Beth completes hers in one sitting. Both arrive knowing not just what they own and owe but what they are willing to accept and why. The session moves through the asset questions in two hours. The mediator writes afterward: "The Asset Clarity Workbook did the intake that I used to spend the entire first session doing."
For your practice: Both workbooks did the preparation work in advance — so the session itself can be spent on resolution, not discovery.
Browse the Asset Clarity Workbook →Two categories below: titles for mediation clients (preparation workbooks you assign before the session) and titles for your mediator practice (facilitation and professional resources). Every card shows what the title contains, which client to give it to, and when in the mediation process to send it.
A facilitation guide for using the co-parenting and preparation workbooks in mediation and court-ordered programs. Covers client assignment, session integration, and documentation. $22.99 Print / $12.99 Digital.
Your intake questions, your practice framing, our structured question methodology underneath. Your logo on the cover. Clients complete it before the session. You start from substance. Design yours.
Assign titles to individual clients, set delivery timing, see what parties choose to share. Includes AI-assisted preparation summary and export templates for your session notes.
Complete in the browser at their own pace. Progress saves. Clients share what they choose. Ideal for parties who need flexibility between sessions.
Hands-free guided completion. Client listens, pauses, answers, continues. Removes barriers for clients with limited time or reading constraints.
Order in volume for high-conflict programs and court-annexed practices. Keep copies on hand. Volume pricing starts at ten copies.
We agree to:
From The Partnership Workbook's charter pages. Your words go here.
Mediation centers, court-annexed programs, and collaborative law groups can purchase preparation workbooks in volume for standing intake programs. When every party completes a preparation workbook, the program runs more efficiently — fewer sessions per case, higher resolution rates, and clients who arrive understanding why they are there.
Court-annexed programs and mediation centers can build a custom preparation workbook carrying the program's name, intake questions, and local procedural context — with Purpose Built Press structured question methodology underneath. Both parties complete it before the first session. Every case starts from substance, not ground zero.
Your clients see your program. They experience our methodology combined with yours.
Parties arrive holding positions, not interests. The first hour — sometimes the first three — goes to untangling what each side needs from what each side is demanding. Discovery happens in the room, on the clock, with both parties already in a defensive posture. The preparation gap is the session.
Both parties arrive having named their interests, their fears, and what resolution looks like to them. The session can begin at the level where most mediations end. You spend your time on resolution, not discovery. Parties who prepared arrive differently — less defensive, more oriented toward agreement, with language for what they need.
| 10–24 | 25–49 | 50–99 | 100–249 | 250+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15% | 20% | 25% | 30% | 35% |
Volume pricing shown above for the Pre-Mediation Workbook at $9.99 base. Contact us for mixed-title volume quotes or institutional program pricing. 30-Day Guarantee. If this does not start the conversation you need, send it back. Physical editions only.
Order one copy, assign it digitally, or send a print edition. See what a prepared party brings to the session. See the title →
Your program name, your intake questions, our methodology. Both parties complete it before the first session. Start now →
Volume pricing starts at ten copies. Institutional programs and court-annexed services qualify for custom rates. Contact us →