When a Party’s Mental Health Is Under Attack: Resources to Help

presented by Dan Berstein

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

12:00 Noon – 1:30 PM Eastern (9:00 -10:30 AM Pacific)

Non-Member Registration

About the Webinar

During family court and family mediation cases, parties and practitioners often accuse one another of having mental health problems. What can mediators do to address problems, prevent bias, and support people facing these kinds of attacks? Join Dan Berstein, a mediator living with bipolar disorder and the co-author of the forthcoming Family Court Review article, “The Uses and Abuses of Psychodiagnostic Terms in Family Court Cases: Beyond Labels to the Humanity Beneath.” He will share tools which mediators and other practitioners can use to: 1) respond to allegations of unfitness based on speculated or known mental health situations; 2) address innuendo or colloquial mental illness accusations; 3) navigate mental-health-based reasonable accommodations requests in empowering, non-stigmatizing ways; 4) appropriately address risks and problems by focusing on behaviors, instead of mental health labels; 5) support parties taking responsibility for challenging behaviors while invoking a mental health situation (and treatment) as an ameliorative factor; and 6) build good will by displaying maturity, sensitivity, and compassion for parties who have mental health needs. All attendees will receive takeaway tools.

About the Presenter

Dan Berstein

Dan Berstein, MHS is a mediator living with bipolar disorder working to apply conflict resolution best practices to promote effective mental health communication and prevent mental illness discrimination. Since 2012, Dan’s company MH Mediate has helped professionals, organizations, and government agencies address challenging behaviors without discriminating against people who have mental health conditions. Dan holds degrees from the Wharton School and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. His book, Mental Health and Conflicts: A Handbook for Empowerment, was originally published by the American Bar Association. Through MH Mediate’s Mental Health Safe Project, Dan has successfully advocated for many publications to be updated to prevent disparate treatment toward parties regarded as having psychiatric disabilities. The challenges from this advocacy inspired Dan’s Trauma-Informed Response Initiative which helps people navigate distress, tough topics, and obstacles without becoming dysregulated and unprofessional – and set effective boundaries without writing anyone off.

Time and Place

Tuesday, July 08, 2025
12:00 Noon – 1:30 PM Eastern (9:00-10:30 AM Pacific)

Cost

Free for APFM Members, $50 for Non-Members.

More Information about the Webinar

Only APFM members and paid attendees will receive an email with instructions on how to log into the webinar, to be held using the services of zoom.us. If you are uncertain about the status of your APFM membership, log into the APFM website to check it. Help logging in is available here: https://apfmnet.org/website-help/.

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