I remember the headlines well. “Tiger Woods crashes his SUV and throws spotlight on the family life of this most private of sportsmen”. The events following this were devastating for a man considered one of the greatest golfers of all time.

His marriage became publicly rocky after the crash and the paparazzi went into overdrive leading Woods to admit he had strayed from his wife. The indiscretions cost Tiger Woods lucrative endorsement deals recorded to be worth over $23 million including Gillette, management consulting firm Accenture, AT&T, General Motors and most prominently, Gatorade and forced him to take a five-month break while he checked into rehab.

However it didn’t end there…

Not only did he lose his wife but he also lost his Coach Hank Haney of over 6 years who up to this point had been fully supportive of Tiger but relations between the two just deteriorated and Hank struggled to see how Tiger would recover his position in the world of Golf.

This is all very interesting I hear you say…But what has this got to do with mediation?

Well, Tiger went from being one of The World’s top-ranking sportsman to losing what must have felt to him like everything all arising out of his personal relationship breakdown. This pretty much mirrors how a lot of people feel when their personal relationships break down.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re famous, rich, poor, Married or not, have children, or whether you are old or young; we all go through the same range of emotions as our lives begin to change. Research supports a relationship breakdown is consistent with a bereavement with the range of emotions and stress experienced no matter who you are.

However, you can help ease the process with the choices you make in relation to how you manage your separation and affairs. Tiger and his wife elected from the outset to try and deal with everything as amicable as possible. They issued a statement saying…

“We are sad that our marriage is over and we wish each other the very best for the future, While we are no longer married, we are the parents of two wonderful children and their happiness has been, and will always be, of paramount importance to both of us.” – The Wood Family

The statement added, “Once we came to the decision that our marriage was at an end, the primary focus of our amicable discussions has been to ensure their future well-being. The weeks and months ahead will not be easy for them as we adjust to a new family situation.”

Music to my ears and making complete sense. Managing to put their own emotions aside in order to focus on the future of their co parenting relationship for the sake of their two children. Perfect for Mediation and exactly what we help you to focus on during the process. However the couple soon hired their own respective lawyers and unfortunately, with such a high profile character such as Woods, it was never going to be straight forward with allegations of leaks to the press it was soon reported that “things were getting ugly!”

Again and unfortunately Tiger’s story does not differ from many couples experience of the separation process. This is normal hey? People split up, fall out, go to lawyers and never want to see each other again. However how long does the pain of that journey last?

Tiger Woods, last week won the Masters finishing what was arguably the greatest career comeback in the history of golf nearly a decade after his misdemeanours derailed his game. That’s a long time right?… This may well be an over exaggeration to the norm from a time scale perspective, as are his particular set of circumstances, but either way, whilst he has resumed his place as one of the greatest Golf players ever it has come at a cost both financially, professionally and personally. Just like a lot of other couples we deal with.

The difference being there are choices to be made as to how you deal with your separation. Yes mediation requires you both to sign up to the process but if you do, you can work through all of the issues which need to be addressed between you, retaining control and ownership of the decisions which need to be made and work together to redesign your new futures and how you would like them to look utilising the resources between you and remaining focused at all times on the children and meeting their needs as parents. In doing so you can seek closure far more quickly, with more personally tailored outcomes regaining your life far more quickly than Tiger did!

If you would like more information about our mediation services then please don’t hesitate to contact us at the following locations: