Who are we ?

We met 12 years ago, when we were both following the interuniversity certification in mediation. At the end of this two-year training course, we naturally decided to work together.

We are absolutely convinced of the complementarity that can offer a man and a woman in this field which implies the need to connect both parties understanding.

Having rich and yet different life experiences, we hold many shared values. We both know that “the quality of your life ultimately depends on the quality of your relationships” – Esther Perel.

We are both driven by the will to bring efficient and personal solutions with a human touch to the difficulties that couples can face.

Valérie Claeys & Yves Dinsart 

Valérie

After a degree in commercial sciences, I started my career as an international marketing senior executive at L’Oréal. Then, following 10 years of working abroad (Paris, London and New York), I came back to Belgium to start and run an SMB in wellness, called Vitao. At that point in my private life things weren’t going very well. I was confronted with a divorce and I was very shocked at how cold the process of separation was. I didn’t understand how a love story could end in such an heartless way. Some years later, I had to liquidate my business and my new relationship was also in a bad way. I started to question myself and began therapy, read a lot, attended seminars and conferences. I walked, meditated and went on retreats.

I was starting to realise that I wanted to play a more active role in managing human relationships, especially by bringing more humanity to the separation and divorce processes. This is why, 10 years ago, I went back to school to study meditation, coaching and brief therapy. It was during these studies that I met Yves and it didn’t us take long to decide to work together, convinced of how complementary we were.

In parallel with CoMediation, I also put my experience and skills at the service of women who, like myself, found it difficult to find their place within their relationship. I guide these women on a transformative path so they may also find their personal and financial freedom once more and live their lives to the fullest, alone or in a relationship (osetavie.be).

Yves

I’ve been married for almost 30 years. My wife and I have 4 children who are slowly progressing to the age where they’ll leave the nest. A new challenge for our relationship. If we’re not careful, everyday life could take over the time that will be freed up. So this is a time for us to think of new projects both as a couple and as individuals, since the relationship is nourished by the substrate that we each provide.

Though our relationship is not a long quiet river : maintaining one’s relationship for so many years is anything but easy. What I believe is that it requires real, hard, conscious work that must always be brought back to the drawing board, ever improving – though we don’t necessarily get there every day. I also believe that I’m not going to be able to change my wife, even if sometimes I’d like to (and I’m sure she feels the same way about me 😉 ), but it’s by looking at what I can change in myself that I have the power to help our relationship grow and develop.

Furthermore, I’m a lawyer by training and, like Valérie, I’m trained in systemic psychology and am a certified mediator. In addition to the activities of CoMediation, I run a domestic cleaning services business alongside my sister-in-law that I started in 2008. I’ve also been a freelance administrator in a series of small and medium size businesses. I’m so pleased by how complementary these different fields are.