A successful mediation isn’t one where people walk out and say woo-hoo, I won.
— Anne Tessier, Executive Director, Cape Mediation
Cape Mediation Gets New HQ
Cape Mediation's new HQ helps the nonprofit better serve Cape and Island courts, as well as schools and community.
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20 December 2025 – ORLEANS, MA – Cape Mediation just moved into its new headquarters, positioning it to better serve the region’s three courts, as well as providing school and community conflict resolution training.
Where are Cape Mediation’s new office?
The new space lies right in the middle of downtown Orleans, in the Post Office Square building on Main Street.
What are the benefits of the new space?
Ann Tessier, executive director of Cape Mediation, said that the new space brought the organization into a central and easy to find location, as well as adding needed space for new training and on-site mediation.
What does Cape Mediation do?
The nonprofit organization supports the courts in Falmouth, Barnstable, Orleans, as well as providing conflict resolution training for schools and community.
In the courts, it works with summary and small claims processes. Judges and magistrates can recommend that people involved in certain cases meet with trained mediators as an option for resolving the conflict. This both frees the backlog in the court docket and provides a less combative approach to finding an agreement.
As part of this, it trains and provides ongoing education to court mediators; the new space helps meet this need.
What is mediation?
Mediation uses communication, listening, and conflict resolution skills to solve the inevitable disagreements and attendant heated emotions among humans. Tessier cites those core skills as not only applicable in court, but also skills apply to wide range of workplaces and conflicts.
How does Cape Mediation work with the community?
That’s why Cape Mediation also offers community and workplace mediation training, and delivers direct mediation services. Tessier says the approach can be invaluable in family matters, for example when a parent and children are working out elder care plans, or when siblings can’t agree after the passing of a parent.
Does Cape Mediation work with schools?
The organization, with feedback from pilot projects also has begun a new school based programming in Nauset and Sandwich, as well as teaching mediation skills as part of a core business class at the community college.
