Selena Wingfield, Principal Mediator on Influential Women

Influential Woman · Civil Domestic Relations Mediation

Selena Wingfield

Principal Mediator, Bespoke Mediation Group, LLC

Dalton, GA

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree PhD in Psychology Degree Bachelor's Degree Degree Associate Degree Cert PhD in Psychology

Her Story

About Selena

I've been studying psychology since around 2008-2010, and I have a PhD in psychology. I taught for several years before opening my civil and domestic relations mediation center in April 2021. My work goes beyond traditional mediation - I'm a strategist for life pivots, helping people navigate major transitions like going from marriage to being single. It's not just about the divorce, but about who you are and who you've always envisioned yourself to be, creating your ideal self. I also work as a life coach, so I can move from one area to the other seamlessly. One of the most important things I do is help navigate high-conflict mediation with people who are narcissists or have difficult personalities. In my practice, I'm very protective of my clients. If you're dealing with a high-conflict person trying to get a divorce, you wouldn't have to see them or interact directly - I would go back and forth between you two virtually, and whatever they say, I would filter that in a way that causes you the least harm possible so we can get to an agreement. I also have a specialization in domestic violence. Coming from a psychology background, I understand that different people are made up of their life experiences - it's nature and nurture. When you have a good understanding of why people do the things they do, you don't take offense or take it personally. You understand that everyone who stands before you is dealing with their own problems, and it has nothing to do with the person or circumstance before them. Right now, I'm in a pivot myself, trying to figure out where the need is more and get into that area. I'm trying to be more innovative, researching what people need more of, because things change and our services need to change too.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Selena

01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

I think self-care is most important. It all starts there. People say you can't pour from an empty cup, so realizing how much you need to invest in your star player is very important. I think a lot of us are so busy investing in everybody else, everything else, including our business, that we don't invest in our star player. And investing in your star player is not just a mask or anything like that, but your sleep regimen is important, because if you're not well-rested, you're agitated, you're aggravated, you don't think well, you feel like you're accident-prone, just all types of things happening. You feel like the world's falling down around you, and you just haven't slept well. The different food in your body, healthy foods in your body, prioritizing stretching, things like that - just making sure that your star player is well taken care of. And all the other things that go outside of your physical body is scheduling. And even in scheduling, you're giving yourself time on and time off. You're giving yourself those breaks that you need to readjust or recuperate and just put things in perspective. One of the things that is really important is that we should always continue to work on our self-improvement with self-help books and things like that, because sometimes maybe you're driving home from work, or maybe you're walking, and you are pouring into yourself. While you're pouring to others all day, you're still pouring into yourself. And you're able to correct some of the things that you're doing wrong, you know, as far as not giving yourself enough grace, or just not pushing yourself a little bit further. So you're constantly encouraging yourself, or having someone encourage you through your Audible self-help books and things like that. So I think there's always time and room for you to pour into yourself. You're taking care of your physical body, but you're also taking care of your mental health. So you're on with everybody else, and then you're off with everybody else, but on to yourself. So yeah, I think it's just really important to put your star player in your spotlight.

02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

Right now, I'm in a pivot, trying to figure out where the need is more and get into that area. Everybody's kind of like traditional this, traditional that, but things change. We need for our services to change. Things need to be updated. So right now, I'm trying to be a little bit more innovative and researching, trying to find out what is a better niche, what are people needing more of. Even though I'm doing the mediation for divorce and civil, and I have a specialization in domestic violence, as well as the life coaching thing, I'm just really trying to figure out where the need is more.

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