All mediation must produce changes in emotions and relationships, both inside and outside conscious awareness. Erickson's techniques recognize and use unconscious processes and preexisting patterns within the family. They also focus on helping people manage certain life cycle transitions flexibly. Divorce is becoming a common life cycle event. Mediation should help family members go through this transition. It must interrupt existing patterns of relating and restructure them. Erickson changed the practice of brief therapy in two major ways: directing clients to do something different during the session and emphasizing the importance of correctly assessing and managing the sources of resistance to specific changes. Ericksonian techniques that therapists can apply include metaphors and stories, motivational hooks, confusional techniques, the pacing and leading process, changing perceptual patterns, joining resistance, remembering better times, and using rituals of transition and continuity. Mediators must have an active, directive, and process-focused role to use these techniques effectively. 16 references.