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