http://mhmediate.com/about/

 

What We’ve Accomplished So Far
 

1. Provided trainings across the country
We have provided trainings in over 12 states and through national webinars for clients including federal and state governments, state-wide professional associations, and local mental health organizations.  
 

2. Pioneered a new model of mental health conflict resolution
While many mediation centers were hesitant to embrace clients with mental health issues, we launched a dynamic mental health mediation model focused on living agreements, communication agreements, and sensitivity plans.
 

3. Led the nation in having inclusive conversations about mental health
MH Mediate led the first New York City discussion event for the White House’s National Dialogue on Mental Health in 2013.  The event was the first to include diverse perspectives, and we were invited to train organizers around the country to follow our model.
 

4. Launched innovative research into mental health conflicts, challenging communication behaviors, and decision points in mental health
Our research projects include understanding the prevalence of challenging behaviors in dispute resolution processes, understanding mental health conflicts, and developing tools to address both.
 

Who We Are

Dan Berstein
Founder

Dan is a mediator living with bipolar disorder and the founder of MH Mediate.  He has spent the past decade working to improve how people communicate about mental health.  Dan has been a support group facilitator with the Mood Disorder Support Group of NYC, a speaker with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and a Mental Health First Aid instructor with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.  He studied mediation at the NY Peace Institute, where he sat on the Mediator Advisory Board and mediated criminal court, youth-involved, school, and community cases.

A sought-after speaker and trainer in mental health communication and conflict resolution, Dan has presented workshops at many conferences and led MH Mediate trainings in over a dozen states.  He holds a masters degree in Mental Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a bachelors degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  He is excited to see conflict resolution become a bigger part of mental health across the United States.


Jura Augustinavicius
Senior Trainer

Jura is a Doctoral student in Public Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Jura has helped design MH Mediate’s conflict Resolution Trainings for mental health service users and was an integral part of our project funded by the Johns Hopkins University’s Social Innovation Lab offering low-literacy conflict resolution training to peers in substance abuse and psychiatric rehabilitation programs in Baltimore City. 
 
Jura holds a Masters of Health Science degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a Masters of Science degree in Cell and Systems Biology from the University of Toronto. 
 

Dr. Maria Volpe
Director of CUNY Dispute Resolution Center
Advisor and Organizational Partner

Dr. Volpe is the renowned director of the CUNY Dispute Resolution Center at John Jay College (CUNY DRC).  The CUNY DRC has partnered with MH Mediate to co-sponsor a wide range of community meetings and dialogue events at John Jay College.  MH Mediate also collaborates with Dr. Volpe to seek mental health mediation grants.