Collaborative Practice Services Collaborative Practice begins with something you can both agree on: self-respect
Divorce Coach
Mental health professionals on the Collaborative Divorce team assist you as coaches and child specialists. Distinct from therapy, this relationship is focused on achieving the immediate goal of a collaborative divorce, rather than determining core causes of behavior. The coach helps the client learn not only self management skills (including anger management) and stress management, but the communication skills necessary to support the collaborative process. Learning these skills helps each client to address emotional issues that could otherwise subvert the process itself.
Coaches meet with their clients individually, giving support, coaching in the above mentioned skills, while helping them develop confidence in their own abilities. Clients also develop a trust in the process as they effectively tackle the difficult problems of their divorce. In addition, clients and their coaches meet in four-way sessions to help clients put into practice the skills they have learned in individual sessions, changing their long-standing ineffective communication patterns and teaching them to become more effective negotiators. One of the primary goals of the meetings is to help parents develop an effective co-parenting relationship that evolves from their mutual efforts. Through these efforts, they design their co-parenting plan. The coaches also provide a conflict resolution model that each of the parties can use outside their formal meeting. The hope is that they will take these new ways of relating and resolving issues into the future as they form their new co-parenting relationship.
We invite you to view the following you tube videos about Collaborative Divorce.
Essential to the Collaborative Divorce process is the child specialist, the only member of the team who functions as a child advocate. Unlike the court appointed evaluator whose role is restricted to evaluation and recommendations, the child specialist is able to assess the child, support the child in expressing his or her feelings and reactions to the divorce and other family issues, while using this information to help the parents understand their child. Rather an "pathologizing" or taking sides, the child specialist's role is one of support and education. Often the child specialist is the one who challenges the parents to be more aware and sensitive to their children's needs. Parents, who otherwise would discount the information as biased, are often surprisingly receptive to the professional who has only their child's best interests in mind.
In addition, the child specialist can give feedback to the team--both attorneys and coaches, that allows them to help the parents in their decision-making. In five-way meetings with the coaches, the child specialist presents information to the parents in a way that helps the parents create a parenting plan that actually takes the child's needs and perspectives into consideration.
Mediation
Mediation is a voluntary settlement process which provides an alternative to litigation. It is practical, issue focused, and involves collaborative problem solving. An impartial mediator helps the parties clarify their disputes, identify the issues, determine their needs and interests and consider options for fair and mutually satisfying agreements. Mediation is a cost effective way to resolve disputes ans establish good working relationships in the future. A co-parenting mediator may offer information on child and parenting issues, and help to craft a co-parenting plan that addresses the needs of all family members and preserves the integrity and well-being of the children and the family. Mediation is helpful in resolving estates and trusts family matters constructively and with mutual respect and agreement.
At Collaborative Opportunities, we offer a range of mediation services including: separation and divorce, marital disputes, post divorce issues, family disputes and estates/trusts family matters.
