This study explored how to facilitate the positive transformation of negative emotions among social workers engaged in family court mediation in China—an issue of growing importance in judicial social work. Adopting a qualitative research design, the study recruited fourteen social workers from District P in Shanghai through purposive sampling. Data were collected via unstructured interviews to capture participants’ in-depth emotional experiences. Findings indicate four major sources of emotional strain: energy depletion from sustained empathy, stress and frustration from mediation failures, helplessness rooted in traditional cultural expectations, and grievance stemming from a mismatch between professional responsibility and institutional authority. Despite these challenges, these social workers transformed their negative emotional experiences through a three-dimensional mechanism: self-reflective reconstruction at the individual level, experience sharing and peer support at the group level, and empowerment through collaborative relationships with courts and agencies. This multidimensional transformation process underscores the importance of integrating clinical insight with structural support to enhance emotional resilience. By highlighting how interaction rituals mediate personal emotional experiences and institutional contexts, the study offers a practice-informed framework for emotional support in high-stress clinical environments. These findings contribute to advancing emotional competence, professional sustainability, and reflective practice in clinical social work.