The Conflict Compass Program teaches conflict resolution skills to help people navigate family conflicts related to mental health situations. It emphasizes key conflict resolution values of choice, impartiality, and empowerment. The program is a project of the CUNY Dispute Resolution Center and MH Mediate, made possible with funding from the AAA-ICDR Foundation.
Who Should Use Conflict Compass
Conflict Compass is designed with broad applicability:
- We define “family” more broadly than biological relatives, to also include any people who love each other and are active in one another’s lives.
- We define “family mental health conflict” as any conflict where the subject is mental health and/or conflicts when participant(s) have mental health histories.
- We recognize that mental health problems are very common, with close to half of us experiencing them during our lifetimes, and that all of us have mental health needs.
Empowerment, Choice, and Voice
Conflict Compass was designed to exemplify best practices in conflict resolution. We remain impartial across diverse perspectives in mental health, framing all decisions as personal choices. We encourage validating communication that helps all stakeholders to feel that their voices are heard, and to feel they are empowered as they collaborate to reach decisions.
Special Consideration for Children
The principles in Conflict Compass are applicable for both adults and children, with the key difference being that children may have less autonomy when adults have responsibilities and authority to make decisions on their behalf. Even though children may not always have the power to make their own choice, it is still important to empower them through listening to their voice, validating their perspective, and communicating about mental health decisions. In this way, all Conflict Compass lessons are applicable to conflicts with children as well as adults.
