Hidden Gems: Meet Liz Merrill of Open Space Mediation

Today we’d like to introduce you to Liz Merrill.

Hi Liz, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I actually came to divorce mediation in a pretty roundabout way.

For most of my adult life, I was a professional classical musician. I spent years in orchestras and chamber groups, where your whole job is to listen deeply, blend with other people, manage huge emotions in real time, and still create something coherent together. Looking back, sometimes it felt like I got my first training in conflict resolution in some of those rehearsals! I don’t play any more, but I really miss playing in the Colorado Symphony, Ballet, and Opera – all up and down the Front Range, for that matter.

Then my own marriage fell apart.

Like a lot of people, I assumed “divorce” automatically meant lawyers, court, and a drawn-out fight. I went through a high-conflict process that was expensive, confusing, and traumatic for everyone involved. Watching how quickly the system could pour gasoline on already-difficult dynamics—especially when there are kids—was a turning point. I remember thinking, there has to be a better way to do this for people who aren’t trying to destroy each other.

So I retrained. I studied mediation and conflict resolution, focused specifically on family and divorce, and eventually founded Open Space Mediation in Fort Collins. My goal was simple: create a calm, structured, flat-fee alternative for Colorado couples who want to separate with as much dignity and clarity as possible, without a courtroom war.

Over time, my practice evolved from “I help people get divorced” to “I help people design a good divorce”: fair, child-focused, financially transparent, and emotionally sane. I started offering workshops, support groups, and DIY tools for couples who want to stay out of court but still need guidance. I also did more and more work with people coming out of emotionally abusive or narcissistic relationships, helping them navigate the process safely and strategically.

Today, I split my time between one-on-one mediation, divorce coaching, and education—teaching people how the Colorado process actually works and how to get through it without burning down their finances, their co-parenting relationship, or their nervous system. It’s a long way from sitting in an orchestra pit, but the core skills are the same: listening carefully, translating complexity into something human, and helping very different people move in the same general direction.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely not a smooth road.

On paper, it sounds tidy: musician → mediator → successful practice. In real life, it was more like, “reinvent your career in midlife while also navigating your own high-conflict divorce and raising kids.”

A few of the big bumps:

Well, for one, I’ve had to reinvent myself from scratch (at a time in a woman’s life when society is starting to take you even less seriously that it did before)! I didn’t come out of law school or a big firm. I came out of an orchestra pit. That meant I had to build credibility in a field where people often assume “real help” = “expensive attorneys.” I had to learn the legal landscape, the court process, and small-business basics all at once, while staying very clear about my role as a neutral and not a lawyer. It was humbling and sometimes terrifying.

I had to learn to build a business while also holding heavy emotional space for a lot of other people. Mediation is not just paperwork and parenting plans. It’s sitting with people at one of the worst moments in their lives. There is grief, fear, anger, sometimes abuse. Early on, I took almost every case that came through the door, including highly volatile ones, and it nearly burned me out. I had to learn how to set boundaries, screen out cases that really belong in court, and protect my own mental health if I wanted to keep doing this work long-term.

Another hurdle: educating people about what mediation actually is. (Even my spellcheck thinks that my company is called Open Space MedITATION.) A huge struggle has been public perception. Many people assume mediation is “soft,” or only for couples who magically get along. In reality, it’s often for people who disagree strongly but don’t want to hand their lives over to a judge. I’ve spent a lot of time explaining that mediation is structured, data-driven, and legally informed—just without the adversarial layer.

Wearing every hat as a solo founder is no joke either. Like most small business owners, I’m the practitioner, the marketer, the bookkeeper, the tech support, and the person plunging the metaphorical toilets. I’ve made false starts with advertising, struggled with the learning curve of SEO and digital marketing, and had months where the financial uncertainty was very real. There’s no big safety net; if I don’t do the work, the work doesn’t get done.

I’ve also have to learn to balance real life with other people’s crises. I’m also a mom, a partner, a daughter. There’s a constant tension between showing up fully for clients in crisis and not letting their crisis swallow my entire day and nervous system. That’s been an ongoing practice: learning when to answer the late-night email and when to wait until morning.

All of that has shaped how I practice now. I’m much clearer about who I can help best, where my limits are, and how to design a process that’s humane for clients and sustainable for me. The road hasn’t been smooth, but the rough parts have made me more grounded, more honest with clients about what this really takes, and more committed to helping people get through divorce without destroying themselves in the process.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Open Space Mediation is a divorce and family mediation practice based in Fort Collins, serving clients throughout Colorado. At the simplest level, I help people end their marriages in a way that is as calm, clear, and fair as possible, without a courtroom war.

What I actually do day-to-day is guide couples through every step of the Colorado divorce process: understanding what the court requires, gathering and organizing financial information, creating parenting plans, talking through difficult “what happens next” questions, and translating all of that into agreements they can file with the court. I work as a neutral, so I am not anyone’s lawyer. My role is to keep the process grounded, child-focused, and solution-oriented while making sure everyone understands the options in front of them.

I specialize in working with couples who are done with the relationship but not interested in destroying each other, their kids, or their financial lives. Many of my clients are professionals, parents, or “second marriage” couples who want something more thoughtful than a cookie-cutter divorce, but less adversarial and expensive than hiring two litigators. I also do a limited amount of divorce coaching for people who are leaving emotionally abusive or narcissistic relationships and need a clear strategy and support.

There are a few things that really set Open Space Mediation apart:

– Flat-fee, transparent pricing. Most litigated divorces in Colorado run into the tens of thousands of dollars. My mediation is flat fee, so couples know the cost from the beginning and can budget around it. Since 2019, my clients have collectively saved over $5 million in legal fees and a combined 150 years of their lives through a more strategic, efficient approach.

– Data-informed, plain-English guidance. I spend a lot of time turning legal and financial complexity into language people can actually understand so they can make informed choices, not just sign whatever is put in front of them.

– Colorado specific and kid-focused. Everything I do is anchored in Colorado law and procedure, and in what is realistically best for children in the long term. I care as much about the co-parenting relationship three years from now as I do about getting the decree signed.

Brand wise, I am most proud of offering what I call “divorce for grown-ups.” The tone of my practice is calm, direct, and nonjudgmental. I am not interested in escalating conflict or feeding worst-case fears. I am interested in helping people get through a very hard chapter with their dignity intact and enough stability to start the next part of their lives.

For readers, what I want you to know is this: if you are in Colorado and thinking about divorce, you probably have more options than you have been told. You do not automatically have to “lawyer up” and brace for a battle. Mediation is not right for everyone, but for many couples it is a faster, less expensive, and far less damaging way to separate. I offer flat-fee mediation packages, one-on-one divorce coaching, and educational workshops, as well as practical tools like a cost-of-divorce calculator and checklists that help people understand the road ahead.

If the idea of a “good divorce” sounds unrealistic but secretly appealing, that is exactly the space where my work lives.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I grew up as a pretty classic “big feelings, big curiosity” kid.

On one hand, I was very serious and sensitive. I noticed everything, worried about a lot, and was always trying to keep the emotional temperature in the room from getting too hot. Ironically, I was (and am) VERY conflict avoidant. I was the kid who wanted everyone to get along, even when that wasn’t really possible, which in hindsight was early mediator training.

On the other hand, I had this whole inner world that revolved around music and stories. I grew up in a very musical, academic household, and I fell in love with sound early. I was the kid who would disappear into a corner with an instrument or a book and re-emerge hours later. When I discovered Peter and the Wolf and that oboe “duck” theme, it lit up my brain in a way nothing else had, and that eventually sent me down the path of becoming a professional musician.

Personality-wise, I was a mix of rule-follower and quiet rebel. I did well in school, I liked knowing how things worked, and I could be a bit of a perfectionist—especially with music. But I was also always questioning: Why are we doing it this way? Is this actually fair? Why are the grown-ups handling conflict like that? I was fascinated by how people behaved, why some families seemed calmer than others, and why some adults could be in the same situation and handle it completely differently.

Looking back, the same traits that defined me as a kid—sensitivity, curiosity about people, love of deep focus, and a tendency to be the one smoothing things over—are exactly the traits I use now in my work. I just traded practicing scales in a practice room for helping people navigate one of the hardest transitions in their lives.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.openspacemediation.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/openspacemediation/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/openspacemediation
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizkmerrill/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@openspacemediation
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/open-space-mediation-fort-collins?osq=Open+Space+Mediation
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@mycoloradodivorce