Co-Parent and Reunification Counseling

Rationale

The degree of parental conflict that follows divorce continues to be implicated as a primary factor in determining how well a child will do living with divorce.  Children who are distracted, torn, frightened or confused by their parents’ conflicts tend to end up diverting their energies away from their ongoing developmental tasks, such as learning, making friends, and participating in their family.

Approach

Co-parent counseling is designed to provide therapeutic support and education to parents within the context of divorce, separation, paternity or third-party family law cases. The goal of this counseling is to improve inter-parental communication about their child, and to help each parent develop more effective parenting skills. A specific emphasis is placed on enhancing the child’s relationship with each parent.

Reunification counseling is similar to co-parent counseling but involves reuniting a previously estranged parent back into relationship with the children, and does not directly involve the participation of the other parent. The approach is very similar in both counseling situations.

Goals