Advocating Harmony: Interventions for Divorcing Parents & Their Children
Are you treating children and parents embroiled in divorce proceedings? Each year more than one million children in the U.S. are affected by the dark reality of divorce. Families often turn to behavioral health professionals, either themselves or by court order, to guide them through the process of separation. This presents ethical challenges for you as the counselor to keep the parents calm and amicable while ensuring you don't testify beyond the limits of your professional knowledge and role during the case. If handled incorrectly, court involvement can have long-term damaging effects on your professional credibility, and a negative impact on parents and their children.
How can you avoid being negatively impacted by your professional involvement in cases of divorce?
Why does language matter when speaking with adults about coparenting?
Are you aware of the specialized issues that come with the dynamics of these families and the potential court interaction?
What can you do to steer parents towards amicable conclusions when they are so set on 'being right'?
This online course will answer the above questions and be an invaluable resource for behavioral health professionals who want to ensure the best outcomes for children of divorce and their parents. Whether you're a seasoned counselor or new to the field, you'll find fresh perspectives on familiar concepts, surprising new ideas, and an array of tools to add to your professional toolbox. You’ll come away with a clear roadmap and proven interventions for guiding children and their parents through divorce so they can survive this time of conflict and thrive with their new relationships afterwards.
Don’t hesitate. Empower your patients to understand the family dynamics during this tough period of divorce and successfully transition into co-parenting.
This online course was designed to provide behavioral health professionals with the methods to help parents and their children successfully navigate the pitfalls of divorce while keeping a positive outlook.
Not only will you gain powerful resources and parenting coordination methods; you'll come away understanding the inner-workings of family dynamics during the tough period of divorce and have the tools you need to treat children with the cooperation of both parents.
Learn at your own pace guided by Bradley Craig, LMSW-IPR, CFLE; a social worker, family life educator, and family law mediator who has specialized in helping families work through divorce, custody, and coparenting issues for over 20 years. He is the author of Between Two Homes: A Coparenting Handbook and has conducted numerous trainings regarding clinical and forensic work with high-conflict families, covering topics such as family law mediation, parenting facilitation, coparent education, and child-first interventions. His knowledge and vast experience lends itself to this online course to help you expertly navigate the pitfalls of helping families in conflict.
Clinical & Ethical Best Practices for High-Conflict Families: Child-First Strategies for Divorce, Custody, Coparenting, and Court
Guide parents and their children through divorce while understanding your obligations to the justice system.Bradley Craig, LMSW-IPR, CFLE
Some things you'll learn in this session...
- Unraveling common parenting mistakes
- Resolving conflicted coparenting
- Recognizing high-conflict behavioral patterns
- Effective parenting coordination model
- Labels: cooperative, high-conflict, and domestic violence
- Benefits and problems related to labels
- Things to recognize and tools to use
- Boundary recognition
- The blame game
- Sympathy vs. empathy
- Cooperative vs. parallel vs. conflicted coparenting
- Working with alienation & Estrangement
- Differentiating domestic violence
View CE information
Plus if you sign up today you'll receive TWO Special Bonus Videos!
Bonus One: Anxious Children: Practical and Effective Treatments - Taught by Christine Dargon, PH.D.
This 1 hour bonus focuses specifically on working with anxious children and provides information relating to normal anxiety as well as how to differentiate between common anxiety issues and something more serious, such as separation anxiety. Concrete and ready-to-use tools for treating children's anxiety are examined in addition to the importance of parents and caretakers functioning as coaches. Lastly, we will cover some areas of caution and important issues to be aware of when working with children who are faced with a variety of anxiety issues.
Instructor
Christine Dargon, PH.D., is a practicing psychologist with over 20 years of experience working with children and families in such areas as anxiety, eating disorders, abuse, divorce and custody disputes, alcohol and drug abuse, and adoption. She is an international speaker providing seminars on play therapy, treatment of anxiety in children and adolescents, and other topics. Dr. Dargon has been teaching on the undergraduate and graduate levels for over 18 years, specializing in child development and counseling. She is currently on faculty at Grand Canyon University and Ashford University.
Take Aways
- Assessement Tools
- Separation Anxiety Tools
- Cognitive Restructuring
- Analogies
- Behavioral Techniques
- Deep Breathing and Progressive Muscle Relaxation
- HRT
- Introceptive therapy
View CE information For Bonus One
Bonus Two: Counseling Techniques with 5-12 Year Olds - Taught by Paul R. White, LCSW
This 1 hour bonus speaks directly to complex children in difficult situations in the 5-12 age range. As a counselor, you'll learn easy to employ techniques and approaches with instruction on practical application. The demonstrated techniques are simple yet powerful and based on accepted and proven theory
Instructor
Paul R. White, LCSW, is a licensed clinical social worker with over 34 years of experience counseling children. He is an internationally recognized therapist, consultant and author. Since 1983, he has had a full-time private practice counseling children and families in Rockford, Illinois. In addition to his individual, group and family therapy, Mr. White has consulted and supervised with public and private agencies, schools and residential settings. Mr. White began his career with children in 1970 as a supervisor of five teams of VISTA Volunteers on three southwest Native American reservations. His Tulane University graduate courses, field placements and thesis research were directed at his primary professional goal, face-to-face interaction with children. Following graduate school in 1972, he worked as a front-line Case Worker with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, a direct service counselor with the Illinois Department of Mental Health and University of Illinois Division of Specialized Care for Children.
Take Aways
- Objectives of Child Therapy
- Problem Solving Techniques
- The Anger Motto
- Four Basic Feelings
- Breaking the Anger Cycle
- Clinical Counselor vs Play Therapist
View CE information For Bonus Two
Learn About Bradley Craig, LMSW-IPR, CFLE
Bradley Craig, LMSW-IPR, CFLE is a social worker, family life educator, and family law mediator in the North Texas area who has specialized in helping families work through divorce, custody, and coparenting issues for over 20 years. He is the author of Between Two Homes: A Coparenting Handbook, as well as numerous educational programs, videos, and curriculums designed to educate the public about the effects of parental conflict on children and the services available to help families through coparenting issues.Mr. Craig has conducted numerous trainings regarding clinical and forensic work with high-conflict families, covering topics such as family law mediation, parenting facilitation, coparent education, and child-first interventions, and he frequently speaks for state and national conferences and serves as an expert to the media.
What Your Colleagues Are Saying
Thank you for providing a resource for MHP's who are trying to navigate these changes with families. – Courteny White
Many excellent dual relationship issues and risks described. I also understood more legal terminology. The handouts are excellent. – Theresa Wozencraft
Click "Enroll Today" below to purchase your
online course.
Login to view the course materials & learn at
your own pace.
Share ideas and chat with fellow colleagues on the message boards.
Take the test(s) and get your CE certificate
of completion.