Bernstein is a research associate and associate professor in the Department of Child Psychiatry at the University of Chicago. He conducts research on parent-child interaction in families living in troubled communities with children from birth through adolescence. His principal interest is using observation and inquiry to strengthen trainer-trainee, supervisor-staff, and parent-child relationships in order to improve the developmental outcomes in children born at risk. He has trained staff from a variety of primary prevention, Early Head Start, early intervention birth-to-three, child welfare, and drug treatment programs in these techniques.
At Erikson, Bernstein teaches Prevention/Early Intervention Methods.