Attorneys and Mental Health professionals work from different assumptions and beliefs, and yet they need to work together in family law proceedings and in consensual dispute resolution – for the sake of the clients.  This team of experienced professionals will have a frank and civil discussion about the basic assumptions of their work and how to apply those to communication between the professionals:  how we define “best interests of the child”; understanding causes and remedies for conflict between parents; how can we learn from each other; how do we integrate legal and mental health issues into case analysis; how we can work to avoid blame or conflict in the team; and work with the audience to develop tools for this work.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Learn to examine the ways that mental health professionals and attorneys view best interests’ standards, parenting, conflict, and family dynamics
  2. Gain tools for learning from the expertise of attorneys and mental health professionals
  3. Modeling civility for the participants – to model for their clients.