He has been a rehabilitation counselor since 1994 and has experience in marriage and family counseling, crisis intervention and working with adult survivors of child abuse.
The business was developed when Mr. Bardo helped to resolve a matter involving a contentious divorcing couple. Mr. Bardo worked with them and helped them come to an amicable agreement. "Why didn't this happen six months ago?" the couple wondered, so Mr. Bardo decided to go through the training process for arbitration, and now can offer mediation services, approved by the courts.
Mediation is a voluntary dispute resolution process designed to bring people who are in conflict together to work out solutions.
Mr. Bardo can assist in custody matters, divorce proceedings, and dissolution of unmarried partnerships.
Too often, the interests of children are not central concerns for a divorcing couple, but Mr. Bardo says that children are his priority.
He notes that couples will still need attorneys, but if the couple comes to him he will help them work out an agreement amendable to both parties. "It's a more civilized way [than the traditional attorney process], and it saves them a lot of money," Mr. Bardo says. "The clients get to choose the outcome, rather than being told what they must do by a judge or a master. It is better to work things out, and to do it in a civilized way."
Agape Mediation Services, "Where Conflict Can Be Resolved," is located at 2541 Sylvania Road in Sylvania, PA. The phone number is (570) 447-8131, and the web page is: agapemediation.com .