Lia Versaevel entered the field of mediation and circle justice in 1980, after commencing a career with the Attorney General in BC in 1977. As a Family Justice Counsellor, she helped people navigate the complex legal systems in place at that time to reorganize families after separation and divorce. Long before Child Support tables or systems to calculate spousal support, Lia helped shape programs and policies to address the needs of children and parents. Lia then established her own private enterprise, Accord, Incorporated, in 1992, with the objective of doing mediation, supervised visitation and helping people work through the daily struggles of sticking to a parenting plan. She returned to school in 2002 to complete a Master’s in Conflict Analysis and Management through Royal Roads University and then went to work in the Court systems in Nevada, again doing mediation and child custody investigations, until she returned to BC in 2014 to take up the work initiated through Accord, under new BC legislation. She continues to be active in Family Mediation Canada, and last year served as the National President. She is now pursuing Certification as an Elder Mediator and is instrumental in creating the Elder Mediation Collaborative with other Elder Mediators on Vancouver Island.