Hansa Patel

Hansa Patel is an attorney, mediator, conflict-resolution trainer for adults and youth, and nonprofit leader committed to advancing understanding, equity, and meaningful connection for young people and families.

For fourteen years, she represented children and parents in the foster care system, where she witnessed how adversarial legal processes can leave families feeling retraumatized and disempowered. Seeking new ways to support families, she built a mediation- and mindfulness-informed practice grounded in choice, understanding, and the potential to transform conflict into deeper connection.

Hansa currently serves as Chair of the Board of the Center for Understanding Conflict, where she supports individuals, organizations, and communities in navigating conflict with understanding and compassion. She is also a board member of the Marin Trial Lawyers Association, where she helps build constructive relationships between litigators and judges. Hansa is passionate about training adults and young people—especially those from underserved communities—in the skills to navigate conflict, deepen self-awareness, and transform relationships. She also provides mediation services to diverse families through a compassionate, equity-centered, and culturally responsive lens. Her work emphasizes youth empowerment and restorative, trauma-informed practice.

A parent of two teenage boys in Marin County, Hansa brings both professional and lived experience to her role on the Huckleberry Youth Programs Board and is honored to support the organization’s mission to help young people build safety, resilience, and hopeful futures.