Family Ties: Therapeutic assessment and treatment of high conflict separated parents and their children

About this training

This training provides participants with a framework for assessing and treating families where there is:

• Chronic conflict between separated parents primarily around the residency of and contact with their children;

• A long history of chronic litigation and allegations (by each parent) around the quality of parenting provided to the child and ‘parental alienation’;

• A wish to intervene early in order to protect the child and reduce the involvement of the Family Court.

The Harmful impact on children of involvement in such conflict is well documented however, traditional therapy has been found to be largely ineffective and professionals often find themselves stuck having exhausted existing resources with the family having made little or no progress. 

The training is delivered by a specialist team who have developed an innovative conceptual framework drawing on mentalization, systemic and attachment based approaches and is based on the book they have recently published, High conflict parenting post separation: The making and breaking of family ties by Eia Asen and Emma Morris. 

Aims of the training

By the end of the course participants will gain:

• An understanding of a conceptual framework and guiding principles that they can use for assessing, decision making and treatment planning with families where there is high conflict and disputes between separated parents which is adversely affecting their children;

• An overview of different interventions that can be used to help move families, their networks and professional systems away from polarised narratives about blame, including early interventions, group and individual family based approaches and interventions to re-instate contact between children and parents;

• Support to think about safe and reflective practice when working with entrenched parental conflict.

Who is this training for?

The course is appropriate for any professional who works with high-conflict separated parents and their children in legal, social care and health settings, including:

• Social workers (including Children’s Guardians)

• Family Therapists

• Clinical Psychologists

• Psychiatrists

• Psychotherapists