PARENT COORDINATOR 2 DAY BASIC TRAINING

Parenting coordination and parenting facilitation are problem-solving services offered to parents raising children between homes who seek professional assistance in working together to keep their children free from the parents’ conflicts. Both are child-centered dispute resolution services that assist parents in developing and implementing workable parenting plans when they are unable to do it on their own. This training will prepare licensed mental health professionals, certified mediators and licensed attorneys to work with the Judicial District Court System as a Parenting Coordinator or Parenting Facilitator. This training is aligned with the AFCC Guidelines for Parenting Coordination.

CO-PARENTING EDUCATION 1 DAY BASIC TRAINING

Many high-conflict divorce cases languish in the courts for years, increasing the conflict and pathology for families and children. What if we could decrease that conflict before any decisions are ever made in court. Co-parenting Counseling teaches four basis relationship and conflict resolution skills before the major decisions are made. These skills are: flexible thinking, managed emotions, moderate behaviors, and checking yourself (checking yourself by using these skills when new issues arise). These skills are essential to all successful relationships and to resolving conflicts. Therefore, these skills are taught in a counseling (or coaching) environment utilizing simple writing assignments and practice exercises to strengthen them. This workshop will address the procedures for co-parenting counseling, parent-child counseling and co-parenting decision making. Addressing the high-conflict before co-parenting decision making will only improve the quality of the parenting plan and the relationships between the child/ren and his/her parents.This workshop provides mental health professionals and parenting coordinators with the implementation of co-parenting education for high conflict cases.

THE GIFTED CHILD AND THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE FAMILY

The most devastating impact of divorce on children is not the divorce itself, but the manner of how the breakup occurs, the degree of ongoing conflict between parents and/or lack of cooperation in co-parenting. This presentation focuses on the impact of divorce and separation on the gifted child. It will explore how the gifted child’s unique constellation of traits, such as intensity, sensitivity, idealism and perfectionism can actually place them more at an emotional risk during the disintegration of the family. Ten strategies for reducing that risk will be shared.

PARENTING PLANS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN AGES BIRTH TO THREE

This presentation will present the importance of attachment research to developing appropriate parenting plans for young children. It will provide the participants with tools to make decisions about time-sharing based on substantiated research to chart overnight decisions for infants and toddlers. It will also give strategies to remediate the potential harmful effects too early or too many overnights for birth to three year olds.

SPECIAL POPULATIONS:GATEKEEPER AND COACHED CHILD OR GIFTED FAMILY?

Do you have a gatekeeping situation or a gifted family? Are you seeing a coached child, or is the child gifted? Things are not always as they appear within the gifted family. Gifted families pose complex challenges for the collaborative divorce team. You will learn about the dynamics of the gifted family, learn to distinguish expressions of giftedness from mainstream gatekeeping situations, and explore strategies for effectively working with gifted families where gatekeeping and other controlling behaviors are in play.

PARENTING COORDINATION:TRAJECTORY FOR HARMONIOUS RESOLUTION

There are conflicting views on whether Parenting Coordination is helpful or harmful. Parenting Coordination can exacerbate the kaleidoscope of family conflict or become the prism in which harmony ensues. The facets comprising the harmonious prism of Parenting Coordination are: Preparation, Learning, Educating, Maintenance and Exiting. Interactive tools for each of these facets will be shared with the audience. Common pitfalls for Parenting Coordinators with personality disordered clients will be countered with remedies for working with these difficult populations.

THE CHALLENGE OF WORKING WITH THE GIFTED ADULT IN THE MIDST OF SEPARATION AND DIVORCE

Why do gifted people struggle in relationships? Gifted, talented and creative adults face unique challenges, problems and difficulties while living their lives because of their high intelligence, Overexcitabilities and multiple abilities. Gifted adults have trouble finding friends and partners—people who have similar depth, complexity, sensitivity, and interests. Many of these relationships end in separation and divorce. These same qualities that challenge the marital relationship also challenge the attorney client relationship or the relationship with the GAL or the parenting coordinator. This workshop will identify the behaviors and feelings of the gifted adult that put a strain on their relationships. Additionally, the workshop will explain the Overexcitabilities and other unique social emotional characteristics of the gifted adult in order to provide the tools necessary to represent and work with these individuals.

PARENTING COORDINATION:AN EMERGING FOCUS OF PRACTICE FOR THE SOCIAL WORKER

In high-conflict separations or divorces, Parenting Coordination can be a successful means of alternative dispute resolution. A Parenting Coordinator is a neutral person to whom parents can turn when in dispute on matters relating to the children. This workshop will address the following: the essential functions of the parenting coordination process; the qualifications and the role of the Parenting Coordinator; the mediation vs. arbitration approach to help parents resolve disputes. This workshop will present the practical aspects of Parenting Coordination as well as the timeline and phases of a successful Parenting Coordination case.

ASSESSING CONFLICT IN DISINTEGRATING FAMILIES: ADVOCATING FOR APPROPRIATE INTERVENTION

The consensus appears to be that “there was not a straightforward relationship found between the type of shared care schedule and the child’s well-being as measured by attachment classification.” “This finding can be understood to support what custody professionals have long known anecdotally: it is not the parent separation itself that necessarily negatively affects the children, but it is the way in which the parents act out their conflicts and the degree to which they are able to collaborate on behalf of their children that is a deciding factor.” This workshop provides the practitioner with the tools to assess the level of conflict and make recommendations for appropriate intercentions.

DIVORCE AND THE SPECIAL NEEDS CHILD

Stress of parental separation/divorce exacerbates the symptoms of many Special Needs Children (SNC), especially those with psychiatric disorders, ADHD, autistic spectrum disorder, or special medical conditions. Due to separation or divorce, there are often fewer financial resources for these children. If parents disagree on treatment/educational approaches while married, separation/divorce usually magnifies these differences. For many SNC, “ordinary” parenting skills are insufficient as they may require extraordinary parenting. These children may place phenomenal demands upon the adults who care for them. SNC children require a very high level of supervision and time-consuming interface with medical, educational, and mental health personnel; therefore there is a need for a carefully crafted parenting plan. This workshop will address the most common special needs and the appropriately crafted parenting plan.

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