"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person."

~Mignon McLaughlin

"Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years." ~Simone Signoret

"Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand."

~Emily Kimbrough

"More marriages might survive if the partners realized that sometimes the better comes after the worse."

~Doug Larson

"The heart has its reasons that reason knows nothing of."

~Blaise Pascal

"Love doesn't sit there like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all of the time, made new."

~Ursula K. Le Guin

"Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own."

~Robert Heinlein

"Without love, what are we worth? Eighty-nine cents! Eighty-nine cents worth of chemicals walking around lonely."

~Laurence Marks

"The art of love... is largely the art of persistence."

~Albert Ellis

"The most critical factor in our ultimate happiness and success is the quality of our relationships. Since most relationships are less than creative, most can be improved upon."

~Wendy

Founder of Creative Relationship Center

Charlene Brumley, Mediator and Facilitator

Charlene Brumley is an experienced mediator, trainer and facilitator in the field of conflict resolution. Charlene has taught courses in mediation and conflict management for the Cornell Extension Program, Empire State College, and the Buffalo Teacher's Resource Center. Before joining the Creative Relationship Center she held the position of Director of Training and Volunteers at the Center for Resolution and Justice at Child & Family Services where she was the senior trainer for Mediation and Conflict Management Training. Charlene also held the position of Coordinator of Campus Mediation Services at Buffalo State College where she provided mediation services as well as mediation and conflict management training for the campus community. As a skilled mediator, Charlene has also mediated disputes involving a variety of family, neighbor, and employment issues, trained apprentice mediators and coached hundreds of new and experienced mediators. Additionally, Charlene provides custom trainings for groups, organizations and businesses on topics that include conflict management, mediation, problem solving, communication and team building. Formally, a divorce mediator and owner of a private practice Charlene began mediating during the 1980's and is considered a pioneer in the field of divorce mediation in Western New York. She has designed and facilitated parenting education workshops for parents in transition and divorce education workshops for children and their families helping them through the difficult time of separation and divorce. Prior to her work in the conflict resolution field, Charlene was on staff as a social worker at Family and Children's Services of Niagara, Inc. where she worked with families at risk for violence and abuse. Charlene was awarded a Master's of Art in Conflict Resolution from the Macgregor School at Antioch University in 2000. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Social Work (1981) from Buffalo State College where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. Charlene is a current member of the Association for Conflict Resolution and is a past board member of the New York State Council on Divorce Mediation and the New York State Dispute Resolution Association (NYSDRA) where she continues to serve as Co-Chair of the Statewide Training Committee and as a member of the Mediator Certification Committee.