Sam Mekrut (she/her) is a highly-trained and experienced mediator court-qualified in Utah to conduct both general and divorce/domestic disputes. Having devoted well over a thousand hours mediating a variety of types of disputes, Sam is qualified as a Utah Master Mediator. Sam is also a Certified Eldercaring Coordinator and is trained and experienced in Restorative Justice practices and Facilitated Dialogue. Sam is known for her ability to quickly navigate through detailed facts and intense emotion to identify the heart of conflict. She takes a practical and compassionate approach to resolving issues and strongly believes in the transformative power that comes from ensuring individuals’ needs are heard and acknowledged.

After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and a Master of Science in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology / Animal Behavior, Sam began her career leading nonprofit organizations.

She served as the executive director of a Massachusetts Audubon Society wildlife sanctuary outside Boston, exponentially expanding its programming and volunteer corps. She later moved to New Hampshire where she became the executive director of a statewide, multi-issue advocacy organization. Sam used her strategic thinking and innate peacemaking skills to organize successful grassroots campaigns and form effective coalitions across the political spectrum. Her leadership helped advance state and federal reforms to voting rights and campaign finance regulations, and promote equity in education, employment, environmental safety and health care.

Sam later moved to CA and studied to become a mediator. In 2015 she moved to Utah to work fulltime for Utah’s Administrative Office of the Courts as a Child Welfare Mediator. Over the next 8 years, Sam conducted hundreds of multi-party mediation sessions, helping participants work through emotionally challenging cases of alleged child abuse and neglect. During that time, she also served as a volunteer mediator and Chair of the Board of directors of Mountain Mediation Center (MMC), a community nonprofit offering conflict prevention and resolution services and training to Park City and surrounding areas. Sam continues to volunteer for MMC and is also an active leader of the Restorative Justice Collaborative of Utah. She conducts pro bono divorce mediation, and co-parenting mediation for the Utah courts and serves as a volunteer mediator for the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Sam is currently working to implement a new Eldercaring Coordination program in Utah modeled after programs in several other states to help families experiencing high conflict over caring for an elderly loved one.