Families

Mental health is a sensitive subject.  It can be hard for families to have productive, comfortable conversations.  Often, families end up shying away from potentially triggering topics.  That means that instead of discussing concerns about new behaviors, people start walking on egg-shells and keep those worries to themselves.  Rather than share updates about their treatment and ask for family input, people feel like the safest thing to do is keep that information private and go it alone.  In other words, families who love each other and want to support one another end up pulling away from one another.  Families who are caring, loving, and supportive end up feeling disappointed, frustrated, and burnt out.

It doesn’t have to be this way.  We can improve how we talk about mental health if we all learn to respect and personal choices, and use skills from the world of conflict resolution to overcome barriers and maintain communication.  

In Your Family’s Foundation: Develop the Skills and Plan Your Family Needs for Empowering Conversations About Mental Health, you can bring these tools to your family through a combination of training, coaching, and actionable plans you will create during the program.

Dan’s Approach

Dan combines his professional experience as a mediator, academic background in mental health and public health, and personal experience living with bipolar disorder to develop innovative resources that help families and organizations have empowered interactions around mental health.  He does this through adapting conflict resolution practices to mental health contexts – helping families and others develop stronger communication skills to respect one another’s diverse views and choices.

In addition to working with families, universities, and mental health service providers Dan has also helped government agencies, court systems, and workplaces improve how they talk about mental health.  He developed an inclusive dialogue model for the White House’s National Dialogue on Mental Health and an online toolkit for the NY State Office of Mental Health.  His work has also been funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration, the NY State Unified Court System, and many other entities. 

Dan is Vice Chair of the Diversity Committee at the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, founder of MH Mediate, and Founder and Program Consultant for the Dispute Resolution in Mental Health Initiative at the CUNY DRC.  He holds degrees from the Wharton School and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.  Learn more about Dan by watching his TEDxTalk “How to Talk About Mental Health Without Offending Everyone.”

Program Components 

You will receive access to Dan’s Resolving Family Mental Health Conflicts and Become an Effective Mental Health Communicator online trainings (a $300 value). 

You will use these insights to complete three plans for your family – a communication plan, a wellness plan, and a sensitivity plan ($2,000 value).   

You will also have 6 conflict coaching sessions with Dan (an $1800 value) that will help you to complete these documents.  You can choose to use these sessions yourself or invite other family members to use them.  Finally, you and up to 2 family members will receive a 3-month membership to MH Mediate’s Talking Mental Health Online Community ($270 value) which provides monthly new programs and resources teaching these skills.

Register Now

Family Foundation Program
$1,999 

To enroll in this program, pay via PayPal by clicking here and you will hear from MH Mediate Founder Dan Berstein within 2 business days, to give access to the trainings and share information to schedule your coaching sessions.