Parents involved in family law disputes are not typically interested in being civil with their co-parent, and their engagement in traditional adversarial litigation often intensifies reciprocal feelings of righteous indignation or accusatory suffering. This can trap them in bitter and self-defeating behaviors or hostile withdrawals that undermine calm, consistent custodial exchanges, mutual understanding or effective problem-solving. This workshop will present how an online program, High Conflict Solutions, and a structured six-week co-parenting class, Co-Parent Solutions, improve co-parents’ civility with each other by teaching them how to calm themselves when angered and tap into their prefrontal lobes in order to attune to their children’s needs, and think and communicate effectively with each other. These programs are effective with a wide range of co-parents and cost effective for parents with limited financial resources or access to services. The workshop will include video clips of co-parent civility after they are taught and practice skills, and also homework assignments, structured class discussions and counseling interventions that strengthen working alliances often necessary for overcoming co-parent resistances and fears about using these skills with each other in real life.
Learning Objectives:
Participants will be able to:
- List two hypersensitivies that lead to unsuccessful co-parenting
- Describe three methods to increase parents’ emotional engagement
- List three methods for increasing memorability and retention so parents can use the information being taught