Mary Sue McCarthy is horse crazy. And it gets worse the older she gets! So to honor her learnings from her equine partners and to combine her two worlds of dressage riding and conflict resolution, Mary Sue named her mediation practice EquusMediation.com

As an active, lower level dressage competitor and member of Maryland’s Equine Rescue Ambulance Team she has been fortunate to live twenty minutes from possibly the most beautiful horse county in the US.  Baltimore County’s Worthington Valley is home to Maryland’s flat races, fox hunts, steeplechases and legendary breeding barns. And now according to research by the United States Dressage Federation, Maryland is now headquarters for many of the country’s FEI level dressage trainers.

Taking advantage of the wealth of teaching talent in Maryland, Mary Sue embarked on her dressage journey her 40’s and now more than 11 years later she credits her partnerships with three special equines as important contributors to her success as a mediator and group facilitator. (Visit www.statusgrow.com for information on Mary Sue’s facilitation business). In her latest book Leif Hallberg shares that “Walking the way of the horse is about learning how to more clearly understand the concepts of respect and leadership. It is about learning what our roles are within the “herd” and about being willing to confront and move forward if old paradigms of leadership are no longer working.” “It is also about learning what we do and do not know and being willing to get the education, training and experience to deepen our human experience.” Walking the Way of the Horse”, 2008

For Mary Sue her horses facilitated two of her critical growth edges: learning to listen at a deeper level and to observe not with judgment but rather with a genuine intent to understand.

No stranger to conflict, Mary Sue currently mediates child custody and visitation disputes for the Baltimore City Circuit Court Family Law Division. She is on the faculty of the North Baltimore/Sheppard Pratt Mediation and Education Program teaching parties about how best to use mediation as an excellent and cost effective way to clear up conflict and create lasting and sustainable agreements.   Mary Sue has extensive training in the transformation approach to mediation that is based on the theory that each person knows best about what he or she needs to resolve the conflict and move forward. Unlike arbitration or more directive styles of mediation, this approach places full decision- making power in the hands of each parties and gives both parties “equal time” to share their stories. The mediator creates the environment for an open and civil exchange during which the parties’ can explore options and possibilities.

As a certified facilitator for the Community Conferencing Project of Baltimore County, Mary Sue works with kids and families in the area of restorative justice. She is a Baltimore native, and lives with her husband Bill Hopkinson with whom she climbed all 46 Adirondack High Peaks. In her free time Mary Sue can be found learning more about life from her dressage horse “Finney”. "By following where the horse leads us emotionally and spiritually, we begin to expand our view of life. Horses give humans a broader perspective on life in general. They give us a keener appreciation of how intelligent and sensitive other creatures are, and thus help develop our own humility and compassion.”   A.R., M.D., and T.E.  McCormick, Horses and the Mystical Path, 2004