About the Elder Mediation Section


History
The Elder Mediation Section was established in 2009 as a special interest section of the Association for Conflict Resolution. Arlene Kardasis, Bob Rhudy and Sue Bronson were the founding tri-chairs of the section.

Mission
Our mission is to advance the development, provision, and use of high-quality, facilitated conflict resolution and decision-making services by older persons, their families, public and private service providers, and others.

Members
We have over 230 members based in the United States, Canada and Europe.  Members take part in regular teleseminars and meet once a year at the ACR annual conference.

Benefits to Members
  • Collaboration of information sharing: Section members have the opportunity to participate on a "on-line discussion group" co-sponsored by the section of the ABA's Commission on Law and Aging.
  • Professional networking: The Elder Mediation section has its annual meeting at the ACR conference. This is a great opportunity for section members to meet each other. Every year at the conference there are workshops and presentations that will be of interest to elder mediation practitioners.

For more information about the section send an email to [email protected]

Section Leaders

Joan Braun, Co-Chair
Joan Braun is a professor at Lakehead university where she teaches alternative dispute resolution and elder law. She also is a mediator at Vista Mediation Group. She is a lawyer called to the bar in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta and has several mediation certifications. She is a certified as a Comprehensive Family Mediator through Family Mediation Canada, is an accredited Family Mediator through the Law Society of BC and is a Certified Elder Mediator through Good Shepherd Mediation.  She has served as the chair of the national executive for the Canadian Bar Association’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Section and is currently serving as a member-at-large for the Canadian Bar Association’s National Elder Law Section Executive. 
 
DeLila Bergan, Co-Chair
DeLila Bergan is an elder mediator, bioethicist and retired elder law attorney.  She earned her law degree from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and practiced as an elder law attorney for many years.  The difficult questions faced by the clients she served led her to obtain a Master’s degree in bioethics and health care policy from Loyola University Chicago.  The stress and conflict she saw within those same families, who were often overwhelmed by the crises inherent in aging and serious illness, drew her to the fairly new field of elder mediation.  Today, she serves older, ill and disabled adults and their families through a blend of elder mediation techniques and medical ethics consultation.  She supports long-term care providers and other senior care professionals through mediation and medical ethics consultations, training and policy development.

To contact members of the executive please send an email to [email protected]

Join us!
To join the Section, you must be a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution. 
Visit the ACR website.