APFM Webinar Series: When a Party’s Mental Health Is Under Attack: Resources to Help
As a service to our members and the general public, the Massachusetts Council on Family Mediation is sharing the following announcement. MCFM is not responsible for the content of this announcement and is not a sponsor of the program or programs described in this announcement.
*** Training Announcement From APFM ***
APFM Webinar Series:
"When a Party’s Mental Health Is Under Attack: Resources to Help"
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM Eastern
via Zoom
Presenter: Dan Berstein
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 goodwill by displaying maturity, sensitivity, and compassion for parties who have mental health needs. All attendees will receive takeaway tools.
Cost: Free for APFM members; $50 for nonmembers
